Vert the Emerald and the Cetra Heritage
by Quatermass
Summary: He fell through the Veil, and into another world, and into the hands of Shinra. Forced into Deepground, Harry Potter died screaming, and in his place, the slayer of Deepground, Vert the Emerald was born. When Aerith is brought into Deepground by Hojo, Vert and his adopted sister Shelke decide it is time to escape, and help AVALANCHE save the world from Shinra, and Sephiroth...
1. Foreword

**FOREWORD**

Once more, I show my insanity by starting yet another fic. This is my sixth crossover between Harry Potter and _Final Fantasy VII_ , four of them being instalments of the same series (three of those being completed), and the fifth being an AU. This sixth story is also an AU of _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_ , but with at least as dark a bent, if not darker, as _The New Cetra Heritage: Imago_ (which, incidentally, is still being worked on, slowly but surely). Considering that this story will be posted on the first anniversary of my joining this site, and Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage was my first story, it's somewhat appropriate to mark that anniversary with a new story.

As with _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_ , this story starts with Harry ending up in the world of _Final Fantasy VII_. Unlike that story, however, (but like _Cycle of Sin_ and _Ghost of Dalmasca_ ), the Harry who has ended up in this world did so through the Veil at the end of _The Order of the Phoenix_ , and he wasn't a happy chappy then. Time and the story have not improved this. He will be a dark Harry, partly because he ended up in a very dark place.

I only did this story because I had this weird idea: what if Harry had ended up in Deepground? What if he became a Tsviet? I can't remember whether this idea came from the multitude of reviews I had for the Cetra Heritage Saga, or else it came from my own mephitic imagination. Either way, this is the result, and it may very well prove to be a bigger AU than most. It certainly went through multiple versions of the initial story before I was satisfied. Have fun.

Anyway, time for the usual disclaimers. Firstly, there will be spoilers for both Harry Potter and _Final Fantasy VII_.

Secondly, there will be annotations, and a lot of them at that. Probably not as much as the original story, but even so, you have been warned.

Thirdly, unlike the original _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_ , this is an M-rated work, for violence, language, and sexual references.

Finally, the following is a fan-written work. Harry Potter and _Final Fantasy VII_ are the properties of their respective owners. Please support the official release. Otherwise, Tifa might ask you to do her a solid. Like blow up a Mako Reactor.


	2. Chapter 1: The Last of the Ancients

**CHAPTER 1:**

 **THE LAST OF THE ANCIENTS**

Aerith Gainsborough was not having a good day, to say the least. As she waited in the laboratory for Hojo to arrive, she rubbed at the bruise on her cheek Tseng had given her. Tseng was not that bad, for a Turk, but he had slapped her to silence her reassuring Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett on the whereabouts of Marlene, Barrett's daughter.

She didn't know whether Cloud or his friends were all right. The last she saw them, they were on a control platform beneath the Sector 7 plate, with the pillar supporting said plate about to self-destruct, thanks to Shinra and the Turks. Tseng and Reno actually looked rather solemn about it, once they were away from it all. They knew that they had caused the deaths of hundreds of people at least, if not thousands. And Aerith didn't help matters by glaring at them, not that she wanted to help matters.

She knew her day would be getting worse, to say the least. Hojo intended to experiment on her, to try and determine how to reach the Promised Land. He even made (according to the Turks escorting her) disturbing remarks about trying to breed her, and she decided that if he ever tried it himself, the hunchbacked stringy-haired scientist would get his genitals ripped off, like she threatened Don Corneo. She would be damned before he even unearthed a fraction of her secrets. She just needed to hold out, just in case Cloud and the others had survived. They would be coming to save her, she knew, as long as they were still alive and capable. She just needed to make sure Hojo did nothing in the meantime to stymie that.

 _Speak of the devil_ , she thought, as he emerged from a door, shuffling with his hunched-over posture. An assistant was pushing a gurney with some ominous-looking straps on them.

"Put the Cetra onto it," Hojo said. Aerith tried to struggle, but between the two Turks and a couple of assistants, they managed to wrestle her onto the gurney and strap her down. They even had a cloth gag, of all things!

"Excellent," Hojo muttered, examining Aerith. "You may go now. This is above even your paygrade." This was targeted at the Turks.

Reno slouched off, muttering about needing a fucking drink, while Tseng lingered long enough in Aerith's vision to mouth two words. _I'm sorry_. Then, he left. Then, she was all alone with Hojo, who began pushing her gurney in the direction of an elevator.

Once they were inside, Hojo took a keycard, swiped it, and then opened up a special panel below the normal buttons. Activating some sort of secret mechanism, the elevator began to descend, and she was sure it would be like a trip into the depths of hell. Hojo, meanwhile, began speaking. "Normally, I would not deign to do this sort of…research assistant work, pushing around specimens on a trolley. But sadly, Shinra holds many secrets. Sadly because, well, they must be kept that way. Many of them are quite interesting. For example, we're going to the headquarters of the most secret wing of SOLDIER, Deepground." He peered over at her. "I am sure you're wondering, 'what does this have to do with me?' After all, you were certain that you are the last of the Ancients. We thought that too, and with the Wutai War and that business with Genesis, we simply could not afford to bring you back, so President Shinra told me. But then, a little over five years ago, just before that business with Sephiroth going rogue, we found otherwise. A teenaged boy with no identification and no records turned up literally out of nowhere. Eyewitnesses say that he literally fell out of thin air near Mako Reactor 7. He was brought into our custody, and DNA was taken to match against our profiles. And that's when the alarm bells began ringing for two reasons."

Aerith felt dismay. She knew what one of those reasons were. Even without being told, she had a sickening premonition.

"The first was that he matched no records on file. While this was understandable, he was related to nobody recorded, save at something of an extreme remove, about a couple of millennia, about the time when the Cetra mostly vanished from the Planet. It was the second part that was really exciting. He did possess certain genetic markers that you and Ifalna had, but nobody else known did." He smile malevolently. "That's right, he was a Cetra."

Aerith was horrified, understandably. Another of her people, in the hands of Hojo.

"We interrogated him, and at first, we thought him insane, babbling on about coming from another world. However, I saw his reaction to certain pieces of technology, and when he saw one of the Turks using Materia, he said something about there being no 'Statute of Secrecy' here. He either comes from another world, or else he is highly delusional. To tell the truth, I firmly consider the former to be the case, though I didn't always believe that. On this world he comes from, the Cetra are more common, but believe themselves to be wizards and witches." Hojo chortled. "Clearly, they have forgotten their roots."

Aerith had to wonder about that. She only knew so much in the way of Cetra lore, because she was only young when her mother died, and she had only managed to pass on some of it.

Even as she thought about this, she felt something she had felt often enough. The soothing hand of her mother on her cheek. Her voice in her ear. _He speaks of the Cetra Exodus_ , Ifalna whispered quietly. _Some fled this world to another, to escape the Calamity_ …

"Given that he was a powerful mage, we decided, after I did some preliminary experiments, to bring him into SOLDIER. But not just any branch of SOLDIER. Deepground. That obese oaf Heidegger had seen the boy's potential, and demanded he be trained by Deepground, to be made a Tsviet, even. I have to admit, Heidegger was right in many regards. The boy seemed to be a child soldier. However, Heidegger underestimated the boy's full potential. And I find some small satisfaction in his failure. Deepground used to have a membership of hundreds. Now, it is down to only two, both of them Tsviets, including the Cetra. Heidegger was forced to seal him away. I wanted biological samples, but after that point, they came to me, despite automated sampling, in a heavily degraded and useless condition. And the Cetra is to blame. I believe he'd be about your age now." His smile became, if anything, more malevolent, and he leaned in close to Aerith. "I think it's about time you two did your part to bring the Cetra back into existence."

Aerith glared up at Hojo. To struggle at this point was useless, the restraints too tight. But once she was free from the restraints, all bets were off, no matter how powerful these Tsviets were.

The elevator came to a halt, and with an inappropriately cheerful ding, the doors slid open, revealing a dark and dingy corridor. And someone was waiting. A teenaged girl dressed in a figure-hugging military-looking bodysuit with glowing blue lines that Aerith was certain was that of Mako. Her dark red hair was cut short, her blue eyes having the distinctive glow of Mako. A pair of strange weapons, like something between long batons and sabres, hung from holsters on her hips.

"Ah, Shelke the Transparent," Hojo observed. "I'm surprised to see you here promptly. And even more so as I always am to see you at your true age. Vert has truly worked a wonder."

"Yes," Shelke said. "You have done enough here, Professor. I will bring her to Vert." Her voice was cold, flat, and emotionless.

"I don't take orders from the weakest Tsviet, spared by a monster because he wanted a pet," Hojo sneered, before he paled. Shelke had moved over to him swiftly, the weapons in her hands, lit up with an orange glow, his neck between them like they were a pair of scissors.

"You have done enough here, Professor," Shelke repeated. "Leave. I will bring her to Vert."

"I expect results," Hojo sneered, before he turned and went back to the elevator. "Otherwise, I will make sure Deepground is made as extinct as the Cetra!" The door closed, and he was taken away.

Shelke looked down at Aerith with an apparently dispassionate look. Eventually, she said, "I will take the gag away, but I will not release you until we are further inside. Do not fear, Aerith Gainsborough. The time is coming for us all to escape."

Aerith blinked, even as the gag was gently taken away. "What do you mean by that?"

"Vert and I have been waiting for the right time to leave this place. We are the only living souls in a place infested by ghosts of Shinra's past." While her voice remained flat and lacking most intonation, there was a subtle difference now, like she was putting on an act for Hojo. There was the faintest hint now of emotion in her tone. "The time will soon be upon us. But first…you must have your Cetra Heritage awoken."

"That sounds ominous," Aerith murmured, trying to keep some levity in her tone.

"Yes. I suppose it does," Shelke said, the faintest hint of a smile touching at her features. Aerith hoped she was right in believing that it was without malice.

* * *

After wheeling her through a number of security doors, Shelke finally undid Aerith's restraints, and helped the Cetra woman to her feet. In that time, they had passed no human being whatsoever, just Shinra's battle robots, used as guards.

"What is this place, anyway?" Aerith asked as she was led through various industrial areas, looking like part-Mako Reactor, and part-military base. She even thought she saw a massive Mako Reactor out of an observation window.

"Deepground was an elite section of SOLDIER," Shelke said. "Originally intended as a medical wing, but later used for…experiments." Flat though her voice was, it held an undeniable venom when she said that last word. "Some volunteered. Many were abducted."

"And you were one of the abducted?"

"Yes. I have the ability to Synaptic Net Dive, merging my consciousness with computer networks. Shinra took me from my sister, Shalua, and experimented on me. They enhanced my abilities, but at a cost: I required daily Mako immersion simply to survive, and my body's development was frozen at the biological age of nine."

"But you look like a teenager," Aerith pointed out.

"I am sixteen. That I look it is thanks wholly to Vert. Many cursed his name in their dying moments, my fellow Tsviets included. But I praise him."

"Tsviets?"

"The Elite of Deepground. Weiss the Immaculate, our commander. Nero the Sable, his brother, capable of manipulating darkness. Azul the Cerulean, heavy weapons specialist and capable of transforming into a Behemoth. Rosso the Crimson, fast and strong, bathing the battlefield in blood. Shelke the Transparent, infiltration and intelligence specialist. And Vert the Emerald. The Lifestreamer. The one we all thought the weakest of us all, even as he cared for me, when in truth, he held the greatest and most frightening power of all. All that was needed was for him to break. I have spent the past year helping putting him back together."

"Alone?"

"Not exactly. We have someone else helping. Someone Shinra fears almost as much as Sephiroth."

"I thought Sephiroth was a hero to Shinra," Aerith said, though she remembered Hojo remarking about Sephiroth going rogue.

They had just reached a massive room, filled with steaming vats of Mako, when she heard a faint, sardonic chuckle. It wasn't a sane chuckle either. Though quiet, it had the feel of broken glass, barely held together. Then, the voice spoke in an ethereal whisper. " _Hero…villain…two sides of the same coin, Aerith Gainsborough. I speak from personal experience, having been thought of as both messiah, and attention whore, despite being neither._ "

Aerith whirled around. "Where are you?"

" _Elsewhere, at your destination, Aerith_ ," the voice spoke. " _I speak through the Mako vats in this very room. It is one of the few ways I can speak now. Having one's lungs filled with concentrated Lifestream does tend to muffle one's voice. Nero, with his last breath, managed to seal me within a high-security Mako vault. I think he intended to seal me in his darkness forever, but couldn't muster up the power. Then again, he could only get it up in the presence of his dear beloved brother Weiss._ " Another crazed chuckle snaked gently around the chamber.

Aerith stared around the chamber, struck not just with fear, but with pity. "What did they do to you?" she whispered in horror. "And what did you do to them?"

" _What was done to me, Aerith Gainsborough, was monstrous. It should be no surprise that a monster was the product. Having lived with abusive relatives for almost my entire life prior to this, dealing with fame that was unwanted and fickle…kept in the dark about important matters by a meddling old man_ …" Sorrow tinged Vert's tone. " _But the worst hell was to come in Deepground. The Boy Who Lived became the Boy Who Died Screaming. Harry Potter died, and in his place, Vert the Emerald was born. I learned of another heritage I never knew of, a heritage from this world, Aerith. I come from another. Where many Cetra fled after Jenova attacked. Where they forgot their heritage, and even how to speak to the Planet. Where they became obsessed with the purity of blood, and sneered at those who couldn't use magic. Our people, Aerith, fell far. Many are still good people, but they are wilfully ignorant of technology. In one regard, I'm glad to be away from it. In another, I wish I could go back. But I don't know how. And I fear that it would be too late anyway._ " The ethereal voice sounded as bitter as the darkest coffee tasted. " _Better to do what I can here. Shelke, please bring her to the infusion laboratory._ "

* * *

The infusion laboratory was ranged with tanks filled with Mako, tanks with medical monitors next to them. Aerith had been ordered to strip and shower by Shelke (to minimise contamination of the Mako, Shelke explained, very important with an initial Mako infusion, though it mattered little with more regular Mako doses). The girl showed nothing when Aerith emerged naked from the shower cubicle, leaving a box with her clothes (including her ribbon and the White Materia) behind.

Embarrassed, Aerith nonetheless strode with little hesitation into the currently open tank assigned to her. "Why am I doing this?"

Shelke closed the tank, but her voice was audible as she began activating controls. "The Ancients have the innate ability to 'listen' to the Planet, even manipulate Mako Energy. However, the abilities of a Cetra cannot be used to their full potential until they have received an infusion of Mako. Vert, through his own infusion, learned from the memories within the Lifestream that the Cetra had a tradition not dissimilar to baptism, and despite the mystical overtones, it has a considerably more practical result than merely washing away sins."

"My mother didn't tell me this," Aerith said, just as Mako began flowing into the tank.

"You were young when Ifalna Faremis died," Shelke said. "And she may not have known."

 _It is true_ , Ifalna said to Aerith quietly. _This is a rather crude and clinical version of our tradition, and my own was done in haste, but it is true_.

 _What should I do, Mother?_ Aerith asked mentally.

 _Do not panic. Just breathe the Mako as if it was air. It is concentrated lifeforce, you do not need oxygen while breathing Mako. And you'll feel as if you're drowning twice over. Choking on the liquid, and sinking in the memories. But we have the ability to retain our sense of self in the Lifestream, Aerith. Don't struggle. Rather, move with the flow without fragmenting yourself._

 _Yes, Mother_ , Aerith said, as the Mako reached her chin. It was so warm, she reflected. Was this what being in the womb was like?

It soon covered her face, her hair beginning to waft around lazily. After a moment's hesitation, she exhaled as hard as she could, forcing herself to inhale the liquid. The Mako surged down her throat, and she spasmed and thrashed as her lungs fought to expel the so-damnably comfortably warm intruder. But soon, even as her body got used to breathing the Mako, the voices and personalities came. Memories that threatened to overwhelm her, her view of Shelke looking impassively at her dissolving into a flurry of images, the faint gurgling of the Mako and the sound of machinery being swept away by a babble of sounds, words, and screams.

But it was strangely easy to overcome that deluge of memory the Mako was flooding through her mind and soul. It almost felt like she had hands on her own hands, guiding her through the rapids. And soon, she emerged, dripping. Noticing a sensation, she looked down at herself to find the very clothes she had stripped off before entering the Mako tank.

Ahead of her was darkness, at least at first, a darkness shot through with scintillating green ribbons of energy. The Lifestream, she realised.

And then, slowly, the actual landscape was revealed. It was a field of flowers, the flowers those that she took from the church near her home. A man was revealed, his back to her, tall, with reddish-brown hair, and wearing a red leather coat.

She approached him tentatively. "Are you Vert?" she asked.

The man chuckled, and she knew, even before she turned, that she was wrong. The man's voice was not dissimilar, but it had a different accent and had less of a sardonic edge. " _There is no hate, only joy, for you are beloved by the Goddess_ ," the man seemed to recite, before turning, revealing slender, almost beautiful features. "Alas, you are mistaken, Aerith Gainsborough. My name is Genesis Rhapsodos. I am not Vert."

"But I am," came a quiet voice from behind Aerith, and she whirled to find someone standing behind her. She nearly leapt, had he not been standing a respectful distance away.

His manner of dress could have been considered sinister. Like Shelke, he wore a figure-hugging bodysuit with glowing blue lines. Over this, he wore a dark-green coat with a high collar. He was tall and slender. Dark glasses hid his eyes beneath a shock of messy black hair, under which a fading scar, like a jagged lightning bolt, snaked out. The high collar of his coat hid his mouth. The effect, as mentioned, could have been considered sinister. But his posture spoke not of intimidation, but weariness that made him look old, despite the fact that, as Hojo said, he was about her age.

"I am Vert the Emerald," the man said quietly. "And together, we are going to save the Planet."

 **CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **This chapter was hard as hell to get out, trying to find the right moment to bring Harry/Vert into the story. I wanted a Harry/Aerith pairing, and I wanted to do a story that, unlike** ** _The New Cetra Heritage: Imago_** **, wasn't a mere rewrite of** ** _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_** **. It'll be a while before I bring Cloud and company in. Shelke will be more of a little sister figure to Harry, and we will elaborate on how Deepground was wiped out by him, as well as why Shelke is now biologically at her normal age (she is nineteen in** ** _Dirge of Cerberus_** **, so she'd be about sixteen during the events of** ** _Final Fantasy VII_** **).**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	3. Chapter 2: Communion

**CHAPTER 2:**

 **COMMUNION**

Vert was certainly not what she was expecting. She was expecting some maddened lunatic, barely teetering on the edge of insanity. Instead, he seemed gentle and polite, even if he was ridiculously reserved.

He must have caught her thoughts somehow, because she could just see the hint of a smile behind his collar, a tired, nearly broken thing. "I apologise for my earlier theatrics. It has been so long since I had anyone other than Shelke to talk to in reality. And I need to let off some steam with someone who hasn't heard it before. I have had plenty of people to talk to in here, true, but the only consistent ones have been Genesis, Angeal, and Zack."

"Zack? You've…talked to Zack?" Then, she realised what that meant. "But that means…"

"Yes," Genesis said, coming over to her and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "I myself live, sleeping deep beneath Midgar, deeper even than Deepground, until the time is right for me to rise again. But Zack died only a few months ago."

The revelation was like a thunderbolt, hitting Aerith with a force that couldn't be denied. "H-How?" Aerith asked, trying not to deny it.

"Shinra murdered him," Vert said simply. "The mission he was sent to, at Nibelheim, ended badly. Sephiroth went rogue, destroying much of the town. There were few survivors. And most of those were experimented upon. Zack told me that he and a trooper known as Cloud Strife were amongst Hojo's guinea pigs."

"I've met Cloud," Aerith admitted, remembering the stoic, aloof, but decent young man with the Mako glow in his eyes, acting in many ways like Zack. In other ways, he acted more coldly, though his decency shone through when they first met. In a way, he acted somewhat like Vert was acting. "But he said he was in SOLDIER, First Class."

"He never was," Vert said. "Zack was. They were experimented upon for four years, with Cloud suffering from Mako Poisoning, as well as from the Jenova cells Hojo infected them both with. That combination made him susceptible. He believes himself to be Zack, I am sure. Zack escaped with Cloud a year ago, but were pursued by Shinra. Zack told him various things about himself, trying to get Cloud out of his catatonic state. Ironically, it was that state that saved Cloud. When a good chunk of Shinra's army mowed down Zack, they decided to leave Cloud alive, believing him to have little time left. But he survived." Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "I'm sorry for your loss." He didn't sound as if he meant it, not out of any malice, but as if he had forgotten what it was like to feel sorry. Then again, his earlier apology for his theatrics seemed sincere.

"…So what am I doing here?"

"Because the time is right for Vert to venture forth. He stayed in containment to consolidate his powers," Genesis said. "He also trained under me. I have bequeathed unto him my sword, the Rapier, and my legacy, to become a hero of this world. And the world needs heroes, for darkness in human form is coming again. Sephiroth is about to re-emerge. And with him, the Calamity from the Skies, Jenova. Sephiroth and I are linked by Jenova: it is through Jenova's cells that we have much of our powers and prowess."

"I don't think I've heard of you until Hojo mentioned you," Aerith said.

"Hardly surprising. Shinra didn't advertise me as much as they did Sephiroth, and when I went rogue, they did much to cover my presence up. Without me, though, Deepground would not exist: they use my human genes and a form of stagnant Mako known as 'G-Substance' to enhance them. I regret the ends of Weiss and Nero: they were like brothers to me. But they were spiralling into madness."

"As was I," Vert remarked ruefully.

"…What did you do to them?"

After a moment, Vert said, "The Ancients had more than just the ability to listen to the Planet, commune with it. They can also manipulate the Lifestream, and thus lifeforce, to a certain extent. They can make the land lush with life, or take it away. Cetra are the custodians of the world. You will have this power to a lesser extent than I. My power was forcibly awakened, and meant that I could take the lifeforce directly from a person, or infuse it into someone else. I can even manipulate the lifeforce of a person to overcome certain conditions."

"Is that what Shelke meant?"

"Yes. The experiments performed on her halted her development at the age of nine, and forced her to immerse herself in Mako at least once a day," Vert said. "After I killed Rosso the Crimson and Weiss the Immaculate, along with the rest of Deepground's troops and Restrictors, I healed her of her condition. She apparently aged six years in as many weeks before she stopped, having reached her proper age. Of course, I was trapped during that time. I killed Azul next, and then, Nero, who was taking revenge for his brother. I liked Nero. He was rather morbid, and had this strange incestuous desire for Weiss, but he was also the nicest of the Tsviets. Sadly, it didn't stop him from trying to kill me."

Aerith decided to change the subject. "So I am here to…learn from you?"

"Yes. You know little about your own heritage, the Cetra Heritage, and the powers that have, until now, lain dormant within you. Once we are done, together, and with your friends, we will save the world, from Sephiroth and Shinra."

* * *

Over the period of a day, Vert gave Aerith lessons on her powers, her true powers as a Cetra. She even got to talk to Zack again, along with her parents. She had never met her father, but she was glad she could, even if it was as a shade.

She also realised that there was a reason why he was called Vert the Emerald. His eyes, when he took off his glasses, were like emeralds, that glowed from within thanks to Mako infusion. But you could see a lot of sadness and pain in those eyes. His face was handsome, but the eyes and the lines of his face held too much pain for one so young. Her own life had been filled with pain and tragedy, but she could tell he had gone through much worse.

His personality was somewhat mercurial, scarily so. Not that he ever directed anything at her, but sometimes, the way he spoke of killing, and of a detachment from humanity, scared her. But he was a good teacher, and helped fill in gaps of knowledge she had about her heritage. He had once joked, albeit enigmatically, that it was like Dumbledore's Army all over again, though just for one person.

It was one of many glimpses into a past he would only allude to, but wouldn't be drawn on. All he would say was that, on his world, the Cetra were now a society of hidden mages who were divided on purity of blood, of all things. There were small glimpses of other things. He mentioned names like Ron, Hermione, Snape, Dumbledore, and Voldemort. He once called Hojo the twisted mutant bastard offspring of Dr Frankenstein and Bellatrix Lestrange, and President Shinra as Lucius Malfoy after decades of eating too many cream cakes, and Rufus Shinra as Draco Malfoy's more competent older brother. He even compared Shelke to girls he had known, like Hermione, as well as one called Luna, and another called Ginny.

However, all good things come to an end, especially when Shelke's voice echoed through the landscape. " _Vert, Aerith, a trio of survivors from AVALANCHE have been detained by Shinra, breaking into Hojo's labs. Surveillance and facial recognition software confirms that they are Barrett Wallace, Cloud Strife, and Tifa Lockheart. They freed one of Hojo's specimens, the one known as Red XIII, but were captured when they couldn't find Aerith._ "

Vert sighed. "There's no time like the present, then. Shelke, we're coming out. Have you done a sweep for Shalua?"

" _The last known sweep indicates she is still in Corel. I have sent covert messages indicating for her to stay there. She is wary, but willing._ "

"All right. We'll head there at least," Vert said. "First, we'll free them. Then, we'll have to get out of Midgar. Shelke, I'll let Aerith get out first. Get her a Mako suit to wear under her dress. Once that's done, get me out of containment."

* * *

Aerith pulled on the Mako suit with a little distaste. It looked like some fetishist's idea of what a military uniform should be like. However, both Vert and Shelke had reassured her that it was more functional than not. The uniforms given to most female Deepground soldiers exposed their thighs, for the Planet's sake! Vert suspected Heidegger had something to do with that. A more covering skintight suit, especially worn under normal clothes, was fine. And it was also not only deceptively cool (temperature-wise, anyway) to wear, but was made of a mithril alloy mesh that was quite protective. It had inbuilt Barrier Materia too, and what was more, would help maintain her physical and magical stamina.

She also got a new staff: a modified Princess Guard, along with a Mastered Magic Materia. Indeed, Shelke had a similar Materia. Vert had told her that, given how he could manipulate Lifestream, he could actually force-form Materia. But the process was taxing and lengthy, and he'd only managed to do it with magic Materia.

Shelke had left to fetch Vert, while Aerith, having donned the Mako suit, pulled her dress and jacket over it. It was surprisingly comfortable, she realised. And she could feel the faint Mako reserves within the suit topping up her magic.

As she finished dressing, she happened to look in a nearby mirror, and blinked. Her green eyes now had the distinctive glow of Mako infusion. Like those in SOLDIER, albeit weakly. She wondered how her mother would feel about that.

Shelke was soon back, accompanied by Vert, who was finishing pulling on a coat over his skintight Mako suit. He had the distinctive dark glasses on. When he saw Aerith, he tilted his head quizzically. "You look even more beautiful in reality, Aerith," he murmured.

Aerith didn't know what to say to that, but Shelke suddenly put a hand to her ear, having some sort of earpiece in it. "Vert, there's trouble. There is a security breach in the upper floors of Shinra HQ. Someone is murdering anyone in his way. The few reports suggest that the intruder is…" Her eyes widened. " _Sephiroth_ ," she hissed.

Vert looked at Shelke, then at Aerith. He then went to a cupboard, and pulled out a long sword, the blade having a shade of crimson. He also plucked out a pair of earpieces, and handed one to Aerith. "What of the Jenova creature Hojo has tucked away?"

"The containment vessel has been breached. Given what Genesis has told you, Sephiroth has in all likelihood taken control of the Jenova organism, and transformed it into his image."

"Then your friends might be in danger, Aerith," Vert said. "We'd better hurry." He grabbed onto Aerith and Shelke, before Aerith suddenly felt like she was toothpaste being squeezed through a tube…

* * *

Cloud woke when he heard the loud _crack!_ , like that of a gunshot. His eyes widened, and he shot to his feet upon realising that the door was open. However, as he approached the door, he heard a trio of running footsteps. The owners of those footsteps soon arrived. First and foremost, much to his relief, was Aerith, though she seemed to be wielding a different staff, and wearing some sort of bodysuit under her clothing. There was a girl of about sixteen, with dark red hair, and dressed in a skintight bodysuit. Finally, there was a thin man about Aerith's age, dressed in a high-collared coat over the same bodysuit Aerith and the teenager was wearing. He wore dark glasses, and had messy black hair. "Cloud!" Aerith cried out.

"Aerith!" Cloud said, getting to his feet. "I came…I came to rescue you, but Hojo…"

He remembered what happened when he, Tifa, and Barrett infiltrated Shinra HQ. Barrett and himself had freed Red XIII, and had threated Hojo, trying to make him tell them where Aerith was. Hojo merely said they had been looking up, when they should have been looking down. Tifa had deduced that he meant some sort of basement to Shinra HQ, but while fleeing to try and find that basement, they had been caught by the Turks. Hojo had taunted them, saying Aerith would soon be bred to revive the Cetra.

"It's all right," Aerith said. Cloud realised that she had a similar shine to her eyes like members of SOLDIER. "And I have so much to tell you, but we've got to get out of here."

The teenaged girl suddenly put a hand to her ear. "Shinra security communications on the top floor: Sephiroth is confronting President Shinra and Executive Palmer. Shinra is saying, ' _So, the Prodigal Son returns. What do you think you're doing, Sephiroth?_ ' And Sephiroth is saying… ' _The time has come. The Promised Land is not yours to plunder, Mr President. The Promised Land…is_ _ **mine**_ _. And mine alone._ '" Shelke's eyes widened. "Sephiroth has just killed President Shinra, judging by the noise. Palmer is pleading with him not to kill him. Sephiroth had just said that he needs Palmer to deliver a message to Rufus Shinra. That he has returned."

Tifa, who had woken up and was listening, blinked. "Wait, what? Sephiroth has killed President Shinra?" She looked over at Aerith. "What's going on, Aerith? Who're these people you're with?"

"Tifa Lockheart, I am Vert the Emerald, this is Shelke the Transparent, we are tendering our resignations from Shinra, and we need to get the hell out of here. Any questions? No, good, on we go." And with that, Vert walked out, going to free Barrett and Red XIII.

Tifa looked at Aerith, before she asked, "What was _that_ all about? And why do you look like you're in SOLDIER now?"

"A long story," Aerith admitted with a sigh. "A very long story indeed…"

 **CHAPTER 2 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **We'll do a bit of a time-skip to when the gang have just escaped Midgar. In the next chapter, we'll have something from Harry/Vert's point of view, at last.**

 **No numbered annotations for this chapter.**


	4. Chapter 3: Vestiges of Harry Potter

**CHAPTER 3:**

 **VESTIGES OF HARRY POTTER**

It was hard of Vert to think of himself as Harry Potter nowadays. So thorough had been Shinra's attempts at brainwashing, and so desperate he was to get rid of the pain and anger from being Harry Potter, that he embraced a new identity with fervour, believing it to be able to give himself a fresh start. It hadn't worked, not entirely, but there were times when he was able to delude himself to that effect.

Still, one thing that was left over was his 'saving people thing'. Dear Hermione, opinionated, bossy, know-it-all Hermione. Merlin, he missed her. He missed them all, but Hermione caused an even worse pang in his heart. And Sirius. The man he had saved from falling into the Veil, only to fall into it in his turn. What had happened to them? And could he ever go back?

He dismissed those thoughts. To dwell on the past was futile, especially if he couldn't go back home. Instead, he needed to focus on the present. He looked at his new travelling companions as they stood outside the boundary gate of Midgar, having escaped from Shinra HQ, and fought off pursuers. They had done so without sticking around to wait for Rufus to arrive.

There was his dear little sister, Shelke Rui, aka Shelke the Transparent. People thought of her as emotionless, but in truth, nowadays, she was merely highly reserved. There was Tifa, dark-haired, kind, rambunctious, and with a prodigious bust. There was Barrett, dark-skinned and hot-tempered, the former leader of AVALANCHE with a gun replacing his right arm. There was Red XIII, a creature who resembled a flame-coloured mountain lion with a Mohawk, a scarred-over eye, and various beads and feathers decorating said Mohawk, and with the ability to speak like a person. There was the calm and collected Cloud, with prodigiously-spiky blonde hair, and blue eyes shining with Mako infusion. But, despite what he believed, he wasn't actually in SOLDIER. He still wielded that Buster Sword like he had been, though.

And finally, there was Aerith. Brown hair framing a gentle face, and with green emerald eyes so much like his own. Gentle, and yet, hiding both an inner strength and an impish sense of humour that wouldn't be out of place in the Marauders. The last of the Cetra, save for himself. And he came from another world.

He looked up at the sky. So long he had spent in Deepground, he had almost forgotten what it looked like. His dark-tinted glasses weren't for show, either. Deepground's processes had corrected his eyesight so he didn't need glasses, but he was now rather sensitive to light. Given that they had all but turned him into a lifeforce vampire, albeit one able to transfer lifeforce between people, he found the irony bitterly appealing.

"We've got to split up," Barrett mused. "We'll meet at Kalm, to the northeast. I wanna hear what Cloud has to say about Sephiroth, and what these two former Shinra goons have to do with Aerith. I don't trust you."

"Understandable. We were part of SOLDIER, and of Deepground, a section of SOLDIER so secret, even other members of SOLDIER may not have heard of it," Vert said. "Shelke and I will travel with you, if you wish, and Cloud can escort the ladies and Red XIII."

"Actually, can I travel with you?" Aerith asked.

Cloud and Tifa acceded to this, the former more reluctantly than the latter. And they were soon traipsing towards Kalm.

As they began walking, Barrett looked over at Shelke and Vert. "So what's this Deepground place anyway?"

"One of Shinra's dirtier secrets," Vert said. "As I said, it was a top-secret wing of SOLDIER. That being said, save for Shelke and myself, it no longer exists. Aerith was brought down into Deepground by Hojo because she and I are of the same blood."

"The Ancients," Barrett said, nodding. Impulsive and bullheaded though he was, he was also not a fool. "So that creep Hojo wanted to breed you?"

"Indeed. I would, but more for the sake of continuing our people than for Hojo's sickening ambitions," Vert said. "And I would understand if Aerith wanted to do so with someone else, someone she felt affection for." He noticed Aerith smiling in both relief and gratitude. "Being a Cetra is really just a human with extra abilities, and no matter who our chosen mates are, odds are that our children would be Cetra. However, I still intend to guide her. The world is in danger, and from more than just Shinra's predations."

"So what did you do to her? I can see her damn eyes, she's got that weird glow that SOLDIER has."

"Mako infusion. Mild Mako infusion, just enough to wake up her abilities. The true gifts of the Cetra."

"Y'haven't brainwashed her or anything like that?"

"I have given her abilities and knowledge, but I have not indoctrinated her. I had little time, anyway. You got captured trying to rescue her. I decided that was the time to escape Deepground, and given that you were her friends, as well as experienced combatants, I would rescue you."

"Damn, man, you cold," Barrett said. "You remind me a lot of that spiky-haired fool Cloud."

A bitter chuckle wormed itself from Vert's throat. "I've had much of the warmth wrung out of me, Barrett. I'm surprised I can feel even a remote amount of empathy."

After a time, Shelke asked, "Barrett Wallace, do you know a woman called Shalua Rui?"

Barrett looked at her, before nodding. "Yeah, 'course I do. Shalua was the doctor who gave me my gun-arm after Corel was burnt down by Shinra(1)! I think she's still there, last I heard! Not sure I want to head back there, though. A lot of folks blame me for encouraging Shinra to put a Mako Reactor there. Can't say I blame them, in hindsight."

"Shelke is Shalua Rui's younger sister," Vert explained. "She was kidnapped by Shinra and experimented upon. She's like my younger sister too now. Part of the reason we escaped was to try and find her."

"So you've got a heart after all?" Barrett said, looking at Vert.

"Blackened and twisted out of shape, but yes," Vert said with a cynical smirk.

"Better that than no heart at all, unlike some of those bastards in charge of Shinra," Barrett snarled, his anger turning back towards Shinra. "Only one who seemed to give a damn about what happened in Sector 7 was that Reeve Tuesti guy, and I hear he's the one who thought up Mako Reactors in the first place!"

"Reeve is one of the few executives of Shinra who isn't a psychopath, an imbecile, or both," Vert said. "Well, with Lazard, the former head of SOLDIER, dead, he pretty much is."

Aerith, who had been quiet for this, eventually said, "Vert, when are we going to talk to Cloud about…Zack?"

"Maybe once we get to Kalm. Remember, he wanted to talk about Sephiroth. I've got the feeling it's going to be about what happened at Nibelheim."

"What's this about?" Barrett asked.

"Long story," Vert said, pulling the Rapier from where it sat on his back, and looking at it. " _Very_ long story. Let's just say that Cloud, like myself, is someone's living legacy. Only I don't think he remembers it."

"And whose legacy are you meant to be?" Barrett asked.

"I don't know whether you heard of him, but his name was Genesis Rhapsodos. Once a man, then a monster. Now, a mentor. To yours truly." After a moment's reflection, he added, "Definitely not going to quote _Loveless_ all the bloody time, though."

Aerith's laughter baffled Barrett, and even Shelke had a small smile on her face.

* * *

It took them a few hours to reach Kalm, and a few hours to listen to Cloud recite his story. Vert paid particular attention to how Tifa, supposedly a participant in these events, reacted. Vert caught subtle changes in expression that she swiftly hid. She knew he was lying, or rather, not telling the truth about his involvement at Nibelheim.

Vert nonetheless decided to wait until Cloud was finished, before making his own interjection. "I think there's a few things that need to be cleared up, Cloud, before we go on. The first is the matter of Sephiroth's survival. He is a Jenova hybrid. His will merged with that of Jenova, and it was the Jenova specimen in Hojo's labs that changed into Sephiroth. The real Sephiroth is elsewhere, a spider at the middle of a web, pulling strings."

"And you know this how?" Cloud asked, not actually disbelieving him, just wanting to know how.

"The Planet has much to say, as do those who have returned to it, to those who can listen to it," Vert said, moving around to where Cloud's Buster Sword (or rather, Zack's, though Zack had obtained it from Angeal Hewley) leaned against the wall. "Case in point: this sword's former owners are grateful that you're looking after it. Though the previous owner does wish you'd stop thinking you were him. He wanted you to be his living legacy, not a mangled clone."

Cloud's eyes narrowed. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know. Which is why I intend to enlighten you. Tifa, did you ever see Cloud at Nibelheim?" As Tifa dithered, Vert said, "It's a simple question: yes, or no?"

After a moment, Tifa admitted, in a quiet voice, "No."

"Tifa?!" Cloud demanded. "You were there, you saw me!"

"I know what you said, Cloud!" Tifa yelled. "And I remember those events as you remember them, save for one difference: you weren't there. There was another member of SOLDIER!"

As Cloud gaped at her in sheer disbelief, betrayal etched on his face, Vert said quietly, "Was there any time that you thought you saw Cloud, Tifa? Be honest."

After a moment's hesitation, she said, "After I was attacked by Sephiroth…I thought I saw Cloud. But…I was pretty delirious from my injuries."

"What's the meaning of this?!" Cloud demanded, wheeling on Vert. "What the hell are you trying to pull?"

"I am pulling to unravel that little fabrication you put together, Cloud," Vert said calmly. "I am not saying you were never at Nibelheim. All I am saying is, you were never in SOLDIER. There is a difference."

"You bastard, trying to cause trouble! I don't know how you got Tifa in on this, but…" Cloud began. But Vert didn't let him finish.

" _PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!_ " Vert snarled, gesturing. Cloud's arms snapped to his sides, his legs snapping together. As Cloud toppled over, Vert rushed over and grabbed him. "I'm doing this now to save a mental breakdown later, Cloud Strife. You'll thank me for it, in time." He then propped Cloud up against a chair, before turning to the others. "When Nibelheim fell, the survivors were taken by Hojo to be experimented upon. They were given infusions of Mako Energy, even if they weren't potentials for SOLDIER. But Mako Infusion is not the only thing members of SOLDIER are given. They're given injections of Jenova cells."

"That headless freak in the Shinra labs?!" Barrett yelped. "That thing Sephiroth thought was his mother?"

"Yes. Sephiroth was wrong: Jenova is no Cetra. Indeed, it was Jenova who wiped most of the Cetra out two thousand years ago," Vert said. "Jenova, in the Cetra tongue, literally means 'Calamity from the Skies'. Think of her as an alien entity." He then turned to Cloud. "You were one of Hojo's experiments. Your co-prisoner was an actual SOLDIER called Zack Fair."

"Zack…" Tifa murmured.

"Yes. Cloud was there, Tifa, but he was ashamed to show his face at his hometown. He had apparently intended to join SOLDIER, but couldn't make it, instead becoming one of Shinra's troopers. I would think that a proud enough achievement anyway. When Cloud spoke about meeting his mother, perhaps that was the only time he removed his helmet."

"But how could he speak of such things?" Red XIII asked in his low, gentle voice. "You said it yourself, his recollection was accurate, save for him being in SOLDIER."

Vert nodded. "When Zack made his escape, and helped Cloud to come with him, Cloud was in a bad way. He suffered from Mako poisoning. This was a year ago, more or less. I have spoken to Zack's spirit, Cloud. That is how I know these things. You were in a catatonic state, virtually unresponsive. But Jenova cells have an odd knack of transferring memories, and Zack was telling you about what happened at Nibelheim, though he obviously left one detail out. Genesis Rhapsodos appeared to him and Sephiroth while they were in the Mako Reactor. It was Genesis' words that truly spurred Sephiroth into researching his origins. Zack speaking about these events, along with the susceptible state of Mako poisoning and the Jenova cells combined to have Cloud eventually believe that he was Zack."

"His personality is different to Zack's," Aerith said. "The Zack I knew was easy-going and nice."

"I think it was a combination of Zack and what Cloud thought SOLDIERs were meant to be like. Cold and professional and aloof."

Tifa then walked up to Cloud, the young man still petrified, and gently hugged him, stroking his hair. "You didn't have to hide, Cloud. You came for me. That's all that mattered." Vert noticed with some amusement that Cloud's face was between Tifa's prodigious breasts, and there was a faint blush on his cheeks. Tifa then looked over at Vert. "Can you fix his memory?"

"I could selectively change parts of his memory, but that never ends well," Vert said. He thought of the Quidditch World Cup, that poor Muggle owner of the field they were holding it on being Obliviated several times. "I personally reckon that the best thing for him is to have his friends there for him. He's got you, at least, Tifa, and I'm sure Aerith wants to be his friend still. This is the thing you must realise, though. Cloud is the same Cloud you knew. His memory is just a bit fucked up. If what Aerith said is true, then he's doing a fine enough job living up to Zack's memory already. And Sephiroth must be stopped. That is in no doubt."

Vert then walked over to Cloud, and looked him in the eyes. "Cloud, I know what it is like to be the living legacy of someone great. At least you get to stand on the shoulders of a truly brave and great man. I, however, am the legacy of a man who became a monster. I spoke briefly of Genesis Rhapsodos." He showed Cloud the Rapier. "A man who became a monster…but who later sought redemption. He was my mentor. He is not so different from Sephiroth, but with one key difference: he seeks redemption. And I'm helping him find it. Stopping Sephiroth, whom Genesis helped drive towards madness, is part of it. That, and, well, I have a 'saving people thing', as an old friend told me once. I'm going to remove that Body-Bind I put on you. Try not to kill me, okay?"

Vert then lifted the Body-Bind, and was promptly kicked in the groin, causing a lot of pain. For Cloud. "Ow!" Cloud yelped.

"Armoured codpiece. Standard equipment in Mako suits for men," Vert said with a smug smile. A smile that, given the glare Cloud gave him, was something Cloud wanted to hit with a brick…

 **CHAPTER 3 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Vert trying to nip all those Cloud/Zack issues in the bud. Time will tell if they stick.**

 **1\. Yes, this is true, according to the Final Fantasy Wiki.**


	5. Chapter 4: Turks and Kunoichi

**CHAPTER 4:**

 **TURKS AND KUNOICHI**

They stared at the massive form of the Midgar Zolom, impaled on a large dead tree. "So, Sephiroth left this," Vert murmured.

"But why?" Aerith asked.

The former Tsviet shrugged. "It's a sign. Like 'keep your distance'. Or 'come and get me'. Or 'Eat at Joe's', for all I know(1)."

"I dunno what's freakier," Barrett muttered. "Sephiroth doing somethin' like this, or you telling that other Midgar Zolom to help us cross! Seriously, how the hell did you learn to speak like a snake?!"

"It's a very long story. Short version: a man who was foolish enough to fragment his soul in pursuit of immortality tried to kill me when I was an infant. My mother had sacrificed her life out of love to fuel an obscure shielding ritual, and the backlash caused that fool's soul to shatter, with part of it going into me. Although the soul fragment inside me was taken by Minerva when I was first confined by Nero, I retained one of the abilities it granted me: Parseltongue. The ability to speak to snakes."

"Minerva?" Tifa asked.

"The guiding consciousness of the Planet. The Goddess spoken of in _Loveless_ , though I will not consider her a deity. She finds it refreshing, really, to have me make snide remarks at her every so often." He looked up at the impaled Midgar Zolom. "Sephiroth, I believe, wants to take her place."

"Then we stop him," Cloud said. The young would-be SOLDIER was still recovering from the revelations he had been subjected to, but given that both Tifa and Aerith concurred with Zack's existence, and the fact that there were little flashes of memory here and there that seemed to tally with it, meant that he was going to go with it for now. They had to stay at Kalm for a couple of days while he recovered from the revelations, but he now seemed more determined than ever to stop Sephiroth.

Vert nodded. "Just keep one thing in mind, Cloud. You've got Jenova cells in you. That's a double-edged sword. Sephiroth may be able to take control, so you've got to fight back with all your might if he does. But…if Hojo's theory about the Reunion is correct, then you may have a better instinct to track him than any of us."

"Reunion?" Red XIII asked. "I didn't think Hojo capable of creating a workable theory."

"Broken clocks are right twice a day," Vert remarked.

Shelke nodded. "The Jenova Reunion Theory. After the destruction of Nibelheim, Hojo theorised that disparate clusters of Jenova cells always know how to reunite. That is part of the reason he infected you with them, Cloud."

"What happens at Reunion?" Cloud asked, not liking where this was going.

"We don't know," Vert admitted. "Sephiroth may take the cells from your body…or he may just kill you. Hojo tattooed most of his test subjects with numbers, though you and Zack were exceptions. And before you ask, Red XIII, you were tattooed long after Hojo finished with his tests. I guess you were the thirteenth specimen of whatever experiment or specimen series he was looking at."

"I hope you are right, Vert," Red XIII said quietly.

"Cloud!" Aerith said. "Remember that sick guy back in Sector 5, near my home? He had a tattoo of the number II, didn't he?"

Cloud nodded. "I see. So, you think I know, on an instinctive level, where Sephiroth is because of the Jenova cells inside me?"

"Possibly," Vert said. "In any case, for the moment, we don't need that instinct to know we're on the right track," he added dryly, looking pointedly up at the impaled corpse of the Midgar Zolom.

* * *

They made their way through a cave system that was formerly a Mythril mine. Towards the end, they found themselves confronted by one of the Turks. Vert recognised the bald, dark-skinned man with the dark sunglasses as Rude. "Hold on," he said quietly as he appeared on an outcrop.

"Who are you?" Tifa asked.

"Do you know who I am?" Rude asked.

"Rude, of the Turks," Cloud said.

"Then you do know. This shouldn't take long," Rude said. "It's difficult to explain what the Turks do…"

"You're basically Shinra's espionage and sabotage department," Vert remarked. "Kidnapping, assassinations, investigations, and bodyguard work for the executives."

"That's an accurate, if negative view. But we have a new onus," Rude said. "We…" He frowned. He seemed to try and say something, but couldn't get it out.

"Sir, it's okay!" came another voice from another outcrop of rock. The voice was that of a young woman with blonde hair and an eager fire in her blue eyes. She was actually quite pretty, Vert thought. She reminded him a little of Luna, if she had the dottiness and dreaminess wrenched out of her. "I know you don't like making speeches, so don't force it!"

"Then explain for me, Elena," Rude said.

Elena nodded, before saying, "I'm the newest member of the Turks, Elena. We're a bit short-staffed, thanks to what you did to Reno."

"Not to mention the President purging the Turks with the corporate equivalent of an enema," Vert muttered. "A shame about what happened to Veld."

Elena frowned, before continuing. "Anyway, I got promoted because of that. Our job is to track Sephiroth, and stop you. Or…are you getting in our way?"

"Elena," Tseng said, emerging from the exit of the caves. "You talk too much."

"It's rookie nerves," Vert said almost kindly. "Have you told her about Deepground and the Tsviets yet? I'm sure it would make her even more nervous."

"The Turks have received a full briefing when they learned of your escape, as has Rufus Shinra," Tseng said.

"I doubt it was a full briefing, but it's nice to be appreciated," Vert said with a grin he was gratified to see unnerving the Turk. He then looked at Elena. "Now, go and obey your orders."

"Elena does not take orders from you," Tseng rebuked. He then looked at Elena. "Go now. And don't forget to file the report."

Elena nodded. "Yes, sir! We'll head to Junon Harbour. We'll catch Sep-…" Elena suddenly winced, realised she had let things slip.

Tseng merely facepalmed. "Elena, your enthusiasm and dedication is admirable, but your discretion needs work."

"Like Vert said," Cloud snarked, "rookie nerves."

"Indeed," Tseng said in agreement.

As Rude climbed down and passed by them, he said to Cloud, "Reno had a few injuries that he only noticed once he handed the Ancient over to Hojo. Painful ones. He told me to tell you that, when he gets better, he'll return the favour with his new toy: the latest electro-rod."

"Does he like playing with his rod a lot?" Cloud snarked, and Rude shot him a rare smirk, while Vert and some of the others chuckled.

As Rude left the caves, Tseng looked at the party, his gaze going over to Aerith. "Been a while, Aerith. I never expected you to have a Mako infusion," he observed. "With Sephiroth's resurgence, it seems that you will be at liberty for some time longer."

"So you're saying I should be grateful to Sephiroth?" Aerith asked.

"No," Tseng said. "And given that I will be busy trying to stop Sephiroth, I won't be seeing you so often. Take care."

"…That's strange, hearing that from you," Aerith muttered.

Tseng shrugged. "Just stay out of Shinra's way."

"Tseng," Vert said, as the long-haired Turk made to leave. When he turned around, Vert said, "What you are chasing is not Sephiroth, merely Jenova's body transformed into him. But this copy is still every bit as powerful as the real deal, considering it's being controlled by the true Sephiroth. And keep an eye out for Hojo. He'll probably want to see the Reunion happen for himself. Just fair warning. You're not getting paid enough for this kind of shit, that's all."

"Funny you should say that. Shortly after you escaped, Hojo went AWOL, resigning without any reason given. The last we heard, he was heading for Costa del Sol. Sephiroth is the priority, though." Tseng nodded in farewell, before leaving the caves.

* * *

They briefly visited Fort Condor, and while Cloud and the others opted to stay to help with repulsing a Shinra attack squad, Vert and Shelke opted to explore some nearby forests. There were rumours amongst the inhabitants of Fort Condor that a bandit hailing from Wutai had been ambushing people and stealing their Materia. They agreed to meet back near Junon later.

"Why are we here?" Shelke asked.

"Mostly boredom. But a Materia bandit may have some interesting Materia on their person anyway," Vert said. "Plus, if they are from Wutai, that means they may be anti-Shinra, and thus may be a useful ally."

Suddenly, an oversized shuriken flew at them, and Vert caught it. "That was rather rude," he remarked casually, just before he intercepted with his other hand the foot of their attacker.

The attacker leapt away from him, landing rather elegantly on the ground. Dressed in shorts, a green jumper, and a headband was a girl of about sixteen with Asiatic features. Her dark eyes peered out mischievously from underneath a short boyish fringe of black hair. "That was rather cool," she said with a grin. "But you can't beat my skills. I heard you say that you have mastered Magic Materia. Hand 'em over, along with any Gil you have, and I won't hurt you."

Vert sighed. "I'm going to go with _no_. Doubtless you have heard of SOLDIER. My sister and I were with the most elite group of SOLDIER, Deepground, and the Tsviets, before we deserted. Leave us alone, and you can leave here alive and uninjured. If you wish, you might wish to join us to fight Sephiroth?"

The young Wutai teenager merely scoffed. "I ain't working with any Shinra redshirt! I am the champion of the earth and sky, the conqueror of evil, the single white rose of Wutai, Yuffie Kisaragi(2)!"

Shelke, just as Yuffie finished her speech, sped forward, and knocked the young ninja to the ground with her rods. Vert followed it up with a Body-Bind, and Yuffie was soon restrained. Vert walked over, looked down at the young wannabe _kunoichi_ , and thought, _Definitely a Gryffindor_.

Shelke, meanwhile, was muttering, "Yuffie Kisaragi, daughter of Lord Godo, the ruler of Wutai. Noted for opposing her father and the peace treaty with Shinra. Claims her father gave in too swiftly."

Vert blinked. "I think Zack told me about her once. A little kid who came to challenge him while defending Wutai." He then looked down at Yuffie. "You know, if I felt so inclined, I could make Materia. All you had to do was ask nicely."

Her eyes suggested that she thought him a liar.

"Well, how about a demonstration? It takes several minutes to do this, but it's possible. If I take off the Body-Bind, you have to be nice, and not try to steal anything."

She nodded with her eyes, an impressive feat. So he removed the Body-Bind. "Oh, wow," she muttered. "I've never had magic hit me like that before. Felt like a Paralyse status effect, but, well…anyway, what were you saying about Materia?"

"Shut up, sit still, and watch," Vert said, before sitting cross-legged, and beginning to concentrate, allowing the Lifestream to begin welling up beneath him. He heard Yuffie's gasp of awe as green energy began welling up beneath the ground, before beginning to concentrate in his cupped hands.

It took him a while, but as he wasn't making a mastered Materia, it was easy and quicker than it usually took. After about ten minutes, a green orb was in his hand. He looked carefully at it, before he tossed it over to Yuffie. "Here you go. Comet Materia, one of the rarer Magic Materia. Only fresh out of the oven, so it'll take a while before it can use Comet 2."

"Holy shit," Yuffie murmured in awe. "You can actually _create_ Materia?"

"It takes a bit out of me, and a lot out of me to make mastered Materia, but yes."

Yuffie's mouth worked up and down in awe and shock, and Shelke remarked, "I think you broke her, Vert."

Yuffie finally found her voice, and said, "So…you can make one of these yourself, huh? And you want the help of the Great Ninja of Wutai, Yuffie?"

"Well, if you've got the skills, we could always use someone to help us stop Sephiroth. Okay, we defeated you quickly, but that was because you were up against a couple of Tsviets. Give us that, and I will help get you Materia, without having to steal it. Hell, I'll even buy you a couple with what Gil we can find on the way."

As Yuffie contemplated this, Shelke said, "We could also beat you into insensibility and hand you to Shinra. I am sure they would love to have Lord Godo's daughter as a hostage."

"Gah! Put the pressure on me, why don't you?!" Yuffie complained. "Fine, fine, I'll go with you guys!"

Vert gave a smirk. "Oh, I think we're going to get on just fine…"

 **CHAPTER 4 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **I wasn't expecting to finish another chapter so soon. Oh well, goes to show. I hope you enjoyed my introduction of Yuffie, and how I brought her into the party. Also, like how I've made Cloud a little more snarky? It's his way of coping with what he's learned.**

 **There'll be a time-skip to the confrontation on the cargo-ship for the next chapter, when it comes out.**

 **Review-answering time!** **AlastorGodOfVengeance** **: Sadly, the Turks from** ** _Before Crisis_** **won't be playing a role here. Sorry. I did give Veld and his people a shout-out, though. However, I don't take suggestions. I do have another idea for another Harry Potter/** ** _Final Fantasy VII_** **crossover, but of a different sort. It's one that occurred to me while writing this chapter. It'll be a long time before I write and publish that, though.**

 **Mangahero18** **: Only on a very small scale, like over a forest or something. And they can't do it too often without exhausting themselves. But these are, to a degree, powers the Cetra were supposed to have in canon. As for the Mr T comment, I didn't intend that when I wrote that bit. But I laughed all the same.**

 **psychicshipping** **: You think I'm Rommel? To which I say… "Gunner who?" Sorry, Spike Milligan joke there…**

 **TOWTWUKER** **: If you mean Cloud, there was a very real possibility. And learning this stuff now means that their relationship is stronger this early on, and makes way for an eventual Harry/Aerith ship.**

 **jgkitarel** **: They'll basically trade snark at each other, but Cloud, by this point, has already accepted (albeit reluctantly) that Vert/Harry was trying to help him, albeit in a somewhat brutal manner.**

 **1\. This is derived from Roland Deschain's musings from the original edition of** ** _The Gunslinger_** **by Stephen King. Sadly, the 'Eat at Joe's' joke was removed from the current revised edition.**

 **2\. Taken from her little spiel in** ** _Dirge of Cerberus_** **.**


	6. Chapter 5: A Deal with the Devil

**CHAPTER 5:**

 **A DEAL WITH THE DEVIL**

Vert grimaced as he stepped gingerly over a corpse, Genesis' Rapier drawn and ready. AVALANCHE and its new associates were currently sneaking through the hold of a cargo ship they had stowed away on to head to Costa del Sol, after a series of misadventures in Junon, not least of which involved Harry having to save the life of a girl called Priscilla from a beach in lower Junon. The various members of AVALANCHE had made their way onto the cargo ship, and were investigating an alert. Shelke, using her earpiece which could hack into Shinra comms, had soon identified the culprit as Sephiroth.

They crept into the engine room, to find that a Shinra guard was standing in front of the engine. After a moment, he turned around, only to slump to the ground, his head toppling off his neck.

Soon afterwards, a voice echoed around the hold, a familiar voice to Cloud and Tifa. Even Vert knew the voice from recordings, as did Shelke. " _At last…after a long sleep…the time has come…_ " And then, a figure rose, as if from beneath the floor. Tall, muscled, and elegant, dressed in a distinctive black coat open to the chest, and wielding a long katana. Long, silver hair framed a face that was elegant, alien, and utterly cruel, vaguely effeminate, cold blue-green eyes with a reptilian slit.

Vert looked at the sword, the famed Masamune, and then muttered, "Yep, definitely compensating for something."

Sephiroth peered at him, surprised at the snark. His eyes narrowed when he saw the Rapier in Vert's hand. "Who are you? And where did you get that from?"

Vert waved cheerfully, Shelke rolling her eyes as he did so. "Hi. I'm Vert the Emerald of Deepground, you might remember Cloud Strife and Tifa Lockheart, seeing as you turned them into shish-kebabs and burned down their hometown. That's Aerith Gainsborough, a real Ancient, unlike that disturbingly sexy alien you call a mother. That's my sister Shelke the Transparent, that's Barrett Wallace, leader of AVALANCHE, that is Red XIII, one of Hojo's former specimens, and this Wutai girl who's about to puke on your boots is Yuffie Kisaragi. Say hi to Sephiroth, Yuffie."

"Hi-HUUUURRRRGGGGHHHH!" Yuffie, as it turned out, was prone to motion sickness. And despite being given a couple of ginger pills by Cloud, she still felt rather queasy, the fear and anxiety at meeting the man who had decimated much of Wutai's army not helping matters. Hence her impromptu redecoration of Sephiroth's boots with the contents of her stomach. The silver-haired former SOLDIER looked distinctly unamused.

"Anyway, as for where I got it from, it was a gift from the man who owned it last. Bloke by the name of Genesis Rhapsodos. You know, red coat, has a tendency to quote _Loveless_ , big ol' wing protruding from his back? Used to be an arsehole, is now trying to do penance?"

After a moment, Sephiroth said, "You did not inherit your wit from him."

"That's fine."

"It was not a compliment," Sephiroth said. He looked over at Cloud and Tifa, his eyes narrowing. "Yes…you…I remember you two…"

"Do you remember Zack? My mother? Tifa's father? All those people in Nibelheim you murdered?" Cloud snarled, readying his Buster Sword.

"Should I?" Sephiroth asked in a somewhat dismissive manner.

Shelke scoffed. "It seems that Hojo's hypothesis on Jenova cell-hybridisation causing premature senility is confirmed."

"What do you know, he got another theory right," Cloud snarked. "Must be a record for him."

Sephiroth sneered. "My advent has come! I bring gifts of death to all my enemies(1)!" Suddenly, he was flying up into the air. And then, something dropped from his cloak.

A grotesque lump of meat hit the floor, and then seemed to sprout in size, becoming a grotesque, vaguely feminine figure, towering above them, with bizarre wing-like flaps of flesh. A pulsating organ in its side could have been a heart, while its head was an elongated muzzle.

"Damn, that's ugly!" Barrett snarled.

"Is that Jenova?!" Aerith demanded, backing away as the creature scrutinised them, growling.

"A Jenova creature, yes," Shelke replied calmly, or at least emotionlessly. Her eyes danced a little with fear, though. "Sephiroth, the one we have just confronted, is the specimen from Shinra HQ transformed into a puppet body. It can shed parts of itself to create monsters."

Vert, however, frowned. "Aerith…there's something going on here. This is my first true exposure to a Jenova creature. Can you sense that?"

Aerith did so, concentrating, before her eyes widened in shock. "It's not just an alien creature…it's an alien _Lifestream!_ "

"I don't get it," Barrett said.

"It's like the Lifestream of another world in miniature, concentrated Lifestream in a single creature…" Vert said, looking at the creature. "But stagnant too, not unlike G-Substance, but different. Much older, much more stagnant…"

The Jenova creature, as if taking issue with the statements, roared, and lashed out, sending Vert flying into a wall. "Okay," Vert said, getting unsteadily to his feet. "More fighting, less conversations. I've got it."

Barrett unleashed a salvo, while the others began evading the creature's attacks. Aerith and Shelke held back and used Materia, as did Vert, and Yuffie flung her shuriken. Cloud and Tifa, along with Red XIII, got up-close and personal with their attacks. The creature roared and shrieked, attacking them however it could.

Vert, however, was frowning. "It's screaming…" he muttered. " _She's_ screaming."

"I know!" Tifa yelled. "Every time we hit it!"

"No, this is something else…Aerith, your Limit Break, Seal Evil, can you use it?"

Aerith nodded, her eyes glowing briefly with the orange and red light of a Limit Break, before flinging her hand out. A strobing flash, and suddenly, the creature was still. "Hold your fire," Vert said.

"Whaddya mean, hold my goddamn fire?!" Barrett snarled. "This bloody thing is tryin' to kill us!"

"I know…but is it the will of Jenova…or the will of Sephiroth?" Vert asked.

"The tapes left behind by Professor Gast Faremis and Ifalna suggest that it is a moot point either way," Shelke said.

"What do you mean? Those are my parents' names!" Aerith snapped.

"Yes. They recorded a series of videos that Hojo took," Vert said. "In one of them, Ifalna said that Jenova was the one responsible for wiping out most of the Cetra, forcing some to flee to Earth, and others to seal Jenova away. But…Aerith, listen!"

Aerith could scarcely believe what she was hearing. "…She's screaming. Crying. She's under Sephiroth's control…and I can't believe I'm calling the entity who destroyed my people a she. She's not a person!"

"No…no, once she was more than that. It feels…corrupted, ancient, but…it feels a little like… _Minerva_." Vert took off his glasses, revealing the emerald orbs behind them, glowing with Mako. "I'm probably about to do something extremely stupid, very Gryffindor. If I start acting strangely, restrain me. But I've got a gut feeling." He met the frozen eyes of the Jenova creature, and said, quietly, " _Legilimens._ "

* * *

A mind is not like a book to be read, Snape had admonished him during those bloody Occlumency 'lessons'. Well, they were probably Snape being given the excuse to basically rape Vert's mind, back when he was Harry Potter, which showed that Dumbledore was either stupid, malicious, or had too much faith in the Potions Master to put aside his grudge. But Vert knew that for all Snape's nature as a vicious bastard who couldn't get over a grudge against his father and what seemed to be a broken friendship with his mother, Snape was right in a few regards. The nature of the mind was one of them.

He had not only strengthened his Occlumency while isolated in containment, but had practised his Legilimency, managing to replicate the spell used after having had it used on him by Snape. It was Genesis who allowed Vert to practise on his mind, with Zack occasionally volunteering. Instead of being a vicious attack, however, Vert learned to slip into a mind subtly. He also tried not to do so: he had been on the receiving end of mental intrusion far too many times to consider using it for anything other than truly important things.

The mindscape he was entering was very different from either Genesis or Zack's. It was dark, filled with obscuring clouds. Thunderbolts and lightning _(very very frightening, me_ , Vert thought almost madly) spiked through the clouds. He was flying, flying through the mindscape…until he came to a massive crater.

Flying to the centre, he found himself on a blasted, hot landscape, smoking and glowing. But not volcanic. No, this was like ground zero for a meteorite strike.

As he landed, he began to hear what sounded like sobbing. And then, a cold, cruel, imperious voice. Female, but it sounded almost like Sephiroth. "Why do you refuse him? Refuse our child?"

Vert approached cautiously, hearing another woman…well, it sounded like the same woman, but upset. "This is wrong…can't you see it? This is wrong? This is not my will being followed any longer…it is his own…only his own…"

Both voices were coming from behind a massive veil of smoke, their owners hidden from view. As Vert crept ever closer, he heard the first voice say, "Our instinct, our will, is the same. It is the duty of every mother to help her child."

"You are blind…he has taken our will away from us! He has turned us into base beasts…to do his will!"

"His will is what matters."

"He is **_VIOLATING_** ME!" shrieked the second voice, before the speaker degenerated into sobbing. "My mind…my will…I am allowed to have no thoughts of my own. I am Jenova! The Calamity from the Skies! The empress of all I survey! Our son…MY son, has deposed me from my rightful throne. Worse, he keeps me chained! We were left to die killing those creatures!"

Vert, managing to make his way through the smoke, came across a bizarre scene. For a moment, he thought he had stumbled across some weird BDSM roleplay, or perhaps a new twist on Princess Andromeda being tied up as an offering for Cetus. Chained to a mangled, warped rock was a woman, blue-skinned, and silver-haired, her orange eyes glowing weakly. Her face was a proud, cold beauty, one that resembled Sephiroth's. She was wearing little more than a torn shift that did nothing to cover her modesty. Open wounds covered her body, marring the possible titillation.

Facing her was the same woman, but with no wounds. Her bearing was proud and arrogant, her eyes glowing strongly and malevolently. She was dressed in elegant armour, armour that, dark in colour, reminded Vert strongly of Minerva's. But different, darker, and more menacing. Even tarnished.

"That is our duty," the first speaker, who was the woman in armour, said. "There is no oblivion for ones such as we, save for those who refuse to follow the glory of Sephiroth."

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but it can't be that glorious if he can't afford a bit of armour polish for you," Vert snarked. As the armoured woman whirled to face him, and the chained woman looked up, startled, he said, "Hi. I'm guessing you're both Jenova. Or rather, two distinct parts of Jenova. I need to give you names, just so I don't get confused. Now, _you_ ," he said, pointing to the chained-up one, "I'll call Damsel. And _you_ ," he pointed at the armoured one, "you are Bitch. Because you're Sephiroth's bitch. And a bitch. It's funny."

"You…you are one of the insects who was trying to kill me," Bitch said. "And an accursed Ancient!"

"Hey, I stopped that. The trying to kill you thing. Because I could hear what was probably Damsel screaming."

"Don't call me that," Damsel snarled. "I am the REAL Jenova!"

"I beg to differ," Bitch said, her eyes flicking over to Vert. "You dare intrude on my mind? You must be more stupid than I considered, Cetra."

"Well, impulsive and reckless, which amounts to the same thing in the end," Vert said. "But the thing is, while there's really two villains in control here, I'm sort of rooting for Damsel here. So, I'm going to do to you, more or less, what I did to Deepground."

"What is Deepground?" Bitch demanded.

" _Exactly_ ," Vert said, before drawing the Rapier and dashing out at her.

Bitch's eyes widened, and she formed the Masamune out of thin air just in time to block it. She flung him away with a slash of the long sword, and scowled. "Fool. This is _my_ mind. I am in control here!"

Vert shrugged, before he slashed the Rapier at the rock Damsel was chained to. The chains shattered, and as Damsel slumped to her knees, Vert remarked, "Actually, it's hers as well. Haven't you ever heard that sharing is caring?"

"I don't care," Bitch said, lunging at Vert, and slamming the Masamune down on the Rapier, executing a series of lightning-quick strikes, driving Vert back. "Sharing is for the weak! Not for the strong!"

 _Shit, I've underestimated her strength_ , Vert thought, as some strikes got through and sliced into him. He gritted his teeth and fought through the pain.

She swatted him away, sending him flying into another rock, and then pinned him through the shoulder with the Masamune. He glared up at her as she sneered. Like son, like mother. "Any famous last words, peon?"

Vert noticed movement behind Bitch, and snarled, "Not yet."

"Not yet? Is that famous?" Bitch sneered(2). Suddenly, her eyes bulged, and she choked up a gout of black blood. She convulsed, and then turned to find Damsel standing there, Bitch's still-beating heart in her hand.

Damsel, with the air of a savage beast, bit hard into the heart, sending gouts of dark blood spurting everywhere. Bitch staggered, trying to take her heart back, but collapsed onto the smoking ground, blood drooling from her mouth. Soon, Damsel had consumed the heart, and then looked at Vert curiously. "A human…a Cetra…an Ancient who has dared to enter my mind. You are foolhardy."

"I got Sorted into Gryffindor, you tell me," Vert said, gripping the blade of the Masamune, and pulling it out. It was painful and difficult, but he managed to yank it out and hurl it away.

"So tell me, Cetra, what is to stop me from consuming your soul here and now?"

Vert tried not to stare at her virtually-naked body. No eldritch alien parasitic entity should look that _hot_. Even with her mouth and much of her face coated in dark gore. "A sense of gratitude? Equivalent exchange? Love?"

"Love?" Damsel asked, raising an incredulous eyebrow.

"Yeah, my former mentor was big on love and redemption," Vert said. "Turning the other cheek, that sort of thing. Personally, I'm not sure whether I have any love left in me, and my cheeks are just one big mass of scar tissue." He got shakily to his feet, staggering a little, and then said, "Okay, how about this. We want to give your son a much-needed spanking. Not the kinky kind, we're talking operant conditioning here. I think it's operant conditioning. Anyway, we're pursuing Sephiroth to stop him. Given what you said earlier, you're not part of his fan club. In fact, it sounds like he screwed you over. Maybe you want to have first dibs on the spanking."

"…You are ridiculous, insolent, and in all likelihood, insane," Damsel…no, _Jenova_ , said. Then, a vicious smirk lit up her face. "But I think I feel like indulging in some revenge, Cetra. For the time being, we are in alliance."

"Marvellous," Vert said, a little half-heartedly. As he made to withdraw, he said, "See you in reality."

* * *

As Vert returned to himself, the Jenova creature convulsed, then began to shrink. The monstrous body began to warp and change. "What the hell did you do to it?" Barrett demanded.

"Well, had a bit of a fracas in Jenova's mind. Got rid of the Sephiroth fangirl, a separate personality, and we've got ourselves an ally of convenience," Vert said. As the creature continued shrinking, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, and, um…mountain lions…" He looked at Red XIII. "I present to you, the Calamity from the Skies, Jenova!"

The Jenova creature had now shrunken to a human size, and had changed in appearance to a human form. The skin changed to a pale white, an unearthly paleness like a corpse or a doll. The hair was silver. And her eyes, orange and with slitted pupils. She smiled in what was theoretically a winning manner, but actually seemed merely predatory.

Aerith seemed torn between looking horrified, and exasperated. The ancient enemy of the Cetra, allying with them? Eventually, she put her face in her hands, and groaned in annoyance. It had been a very long day…

 **CHAPTER 5 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **As with** ** _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_** **, Jenova is becoming a character in her own right now. She's currently an ally of convenience. Will she actually join AVALANCHE's side? You'll see. I actually came up with the Legilimency thing halfway through the chapter. I hope you like the humour in this. Vert/Harry uses it to cope and cover his insecurities. He sometimes moodswings.**

 **Anyway, next chapter, Costa del Sol. And Hojo's about to have a Reunion he never wanted…**

 **Review-answering time!** **Reishin Amara** **: The first time she tried that, Vert threatened to spay her with her own shuriken. _**

 **jgkitarel** **: And Vert respects Cloud to a degree, because Cloud can hold himself up as a would-be SOLDIER. In fact, after Kalm, when Cloud decided to just get back up and keep going, Vert thought, damn, you're like me. As for Shelke being Vert/Harry's morality pet, well, it's actually a bit of a two-way street. Shelke had all the morality wrung out of her by Deepground. So too had Vert, but when they became friends, they kept each other's empathy alive. Vert promised to help her escape one day, something Shelke would have thought impossible, until Vert, during his decimation of Deepground, cured her stunted growth. But yes, they're like siblings and friends. And yes, Vert/Harry does have some regard for the Turks, mostly Tseng and newbies like Elena. He likes to piss off Reno, as you'll discover later. You've already had a bit of it here.**

 **1\. I based this somewhat on an infamous line of Sutekh's (or at least his minion) from** ** _Doctor Who: Pyramids of Mars_** **: "** ** _Die. I bring Sutekh's gift of death to all humanity._** **" This is one of the must-see stories of the Tom Baker era, by the way.**

 **2\. This exchange was based on lines delivered by the Sultan and Baron Munchausen in the Terry Gilliam film** ** _The Adventures of Baron Munchausen_** **.**


	7. Chapter 6: Costa del Sol

**CHAPTER 6:**

 **COSTA DEL SOL**

"I don't believe this," Vert muttered, staring at the sight before him. They were at Costa del Sol, having disembarked from the cargo ship after their fight with Jenova. Who, incidentally, was standing between Vert and Shelke.

"I find this hard to believe as well," Shelke murmured.

"You're not the only one," Aerith said. "This beats out recruiting Jenova to our cause, as much as I hate to say it."

Jenova nodded, smirking, having shape-shifted part of her body to resemble clothes, namely the white suit of Rufus Shinra. "Yes. Out of all the sights to see…this is certainly a novel one."

Cloud, Tifa, Barrett, Yuffie, and Red XIII were merely staring. In front of them, a man lounged on a beach towel, tended to by a trio of women in skimpy bikinis. Said sight would have been relatively mundane for a place like Costa del Sol, had it not been for the fact that said man was dressed in a labcoat, had lank black hair framing a thin, incisive face, and small spectacles. And said man was Professor Hojo.

Eventually, Cloud said, "Aerith, Vert, Shelke, with me. I want to get answers out of him."

" _Jawohl_ ," Vert muttered.

As they approached, Hojo noticed them. "Well, well, well…" he murmured, noticing the two Tsviets accompanying Cloud and Aerith. "Vert the Emerald…and Shelke the Transparent. Along with Cloud…and the Ancient. Who appears to have had a Mako infusion, if I am not mistaken."

"My name is Aerith," Aerith said pointedly. "I'd appreciate it if you bothered to remember my name. Anyway, what are you doing?"

Hojo scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? I'm getting a tan. Vitamin D deficiency, you see. The scourge of those bound to indoor work."

"It seems that the betting pool in Shinra has lost some money," Shelke said. "You are no vampire. You haven't burst into flames in sunlight."

Aerith chuckled, despite herself, along with Vert and Cloud. Hojo sighed. "Have you any other inanities to bore me with?"

"I would've thought that surrounding yourself with bikini babes was the epitome of inanity," Vert pointed out.

"Ah, but these are some would-be interns who bearded me when I arrived in Costa del Sol," Hojo said. "Miss Suvari here is a neurobiologist. Miss Cook here is a cytogeneticist. And Miss Romano is…umm…"

"I have a degree in medical ethics," Miss Romano said pointedly(1).

"Ah." Hojo then stood up on the beach towel. "I believe we're after the same goal."

"Sephiroth," Cloud said.

"Did you see him?" Hojo asked.

"We saw a simulacrum, a puppet created from your escaped Jenova specimen," Vert said.

"I see." Hojo's eyes flickered over to Cloud. "Have you ever had the feeling of something…calling to you? Or that you had to visit some place?"

"You're talking about the Reunion, aren't you?" Cloud asked.

"And where did you hear of that?" Hojo asked mildly, though annoyance glittered in his eyes.

"I used SND to hack your personal files, Professor Hojo," Shelke said.

"Ah, yes. Shelke the Transparent. The weakest of the Tsviets…but not to be underestimated, given your ability to Synaptic Net Dive. Yes, I am speaking of the Reunion. Jenova cells working to reunite after being separated. Truly fascinating. The call has been sent out."

"You used Zack and me as guinea pigs after Nibelheim," Cloud scowled.

"Zack? Oh, Zack Fair…yes, I remember him. How is he?"

"Dead," the four of them chorused. And Vert added, "As you should know."

"A lot of people tell me what I _should_ know," Hojo muttered dismissively. "I find it most salutary to my research to ignore them." He lay back down on the towel, and said, "I'd imagine that Sephiroth, and the 'copies' I made of him, will be heading west, over the mountains to Corel. Perhaps they will have a Reunion in Nibelheim." He chortled quietly. "Now, go away."

"Come on," Aerith said to Cloud and the others. "I don't think we're going to get anything more from him."

* * *

Hojo, despite the views of everyone who had any dealings with him, was not immune to the stirrings of lust. He could ignore them, but he did like to indulge on rare occasion. It was why he had seduced Lucrezia Crescent, viewing the exercise as an intellectual problem. It helped that she had just been involved in a rather emotional break-up with that fool Valentine. He had sometimes drugged Ifalna during her captivity, and attempted to breed with her, so he could be assured of having an Ancient to test on, though she managed to escape before he could be sure of any pregnancy(2).

Hojo had grown up in a part of what became Midgar where the intellect hadn't been prized. His father was unknown, his mother a distant drunkard. Love, he thought, was merely a version of lust distorted by the superego into something considered higher. Hojo sneered at love. Lust, however, was perfectly understandable. He kept something of a lid on it. There was a time for business (well, science), and a time for pleasure.

About half an hour after Cloud and his comrades had tried pumping him for information, Hojo, who was currently appreciating Miss Suvari's bust, barely covered by her bikini, suddenly heard, "Room for one more?"

Hojo rolled, to find a tall, statuesque woman, in her late twenties or early thirties, with gorgeous flawless pale skin, hair so blonde it was practically white, and green-blue eyes. Her generous bust was barely concealed by a black bikini so small, it was almost obscene, even by the standards of Costa del Sol. Her thin, regal face was a paragon of beauty. While Hojo was reluctant to use such hyperbole as describing her as a goddess, to be frank, that's what she acted like.

The next hour seemed to pass by in a blur, and soon, the other three women had been dismissed, and Hojo, in something of a daze, had been led back to his hotel room by the regal goddess. He hadn't even gotten her name. All he knew was that this woman was inflaming his lust like no woman had before.

"Now…Doctor Hojo…how about we…experiment?" the woman purred in a sultry tone as he locked the door. "I have a few hypotheses that need testing."

"Oh, but of course my dear," Hojo said, shrugging off his labcoat. "But tell me, please, what is your name?"

The woman smiled. " _Jenova_."

Hojo was brought back to reality with a sickening jolt. Jenova? But…it couldn't be!

Jenova clicked her fingers, and suddenly, Hojo felt the distinctive sensation of a Silence spell settle on him. Her body changed, her skin changing to blue, her hair to silver, her eyes to a glowing orange. The bikini stayed. "Remember me, Professor?" Jenova asked. "I don't always look like this, true, but I've kept enough of the features I had when you had me in that damnable tank in Nibelheim. I also remember what you did. How you took samples from me, rather painfully, I might add. And the liquid in that stasis tank…oh so very cold. I was aware in that tank. Frozen alive, and aware. When Sephiroth came, I called to him. I suggested razing Nibelheim to the ground and putting everyone to the sword, as revenge for my imprisonment. But then…he turned on me. Usurped me." She grabbed Hojo by the collar, flinging him onto the bed, and then leaping onto him, straddling him in a way that was more like a predator pinning its prey than anything sexual. "Your son. And that of Lucrezia Crescent. He has caused me much pain. For the time being, I will work with the Cetra and their merry little band. I will kill Sephiroth, I will consume him, destroy his consciousness."

Hojo stared up at Jenova, as she leaned down and sniffed him. "Hmm…the heady bouquet of fear. And my cells. I could sense them earlier. You've experimented on yourself, haven't you? All in the name of _science_ , I'd bet. If I let you, you could mutate into a creature of my cells. But I won't. I am closer to you than Sephiroth, which means I can control you. That's how I got you away from those girls. A subtle mind control. I stoked your lust, befuddled your senses, made you _want_ me, made you dance right into the trap like the priapic moron you were. The thing is, while I am willing to experiment with this body…I wouldn't fuck you with someone else's dick. Of course, consuming you is another matter entirely. I'm sure you'll give me indigestion, but all that knowledge…I think I will need it. And I could do with a few more of my cells." She then shoved her hand into his chest. He could feel pain in its wake, followed by an icy numbness.

Dispelling the Silence spell on him, she asked, "Any famous last words?"

"My research…my experiments…they'll be…unfinished…no…stop…"

"Those don't sound very famous to me," she said, as he felt something drain from him, something more fundamental than blood. His lifeforce was being drawn from him, through her hand impaled in his body. "Disappointing last words…from a disappointment of a scientist."

 _No!_ Hojo shrieked in the privacy of his head, even as the darkness claimed him, the last thing he felt was the eerie sensation of having his life ebb into Jenova…

* * *

In another inn, in what was going to be their bedroom for the night (two beds, thankfully), Aerith looked at Vert. "Was it really a good idea? Recruiting Jenova?"

"I don't know. We can rely on her hatred for Sephiroth for the time being," Vert said. "While I was in her mind, I erected a few mental barriers. Maybe I should do so for Cloud, make sure he can't be controlled by Sephiroth. Look, you heard her screaming in pain as much as I did, remember? And…I think there may be more to her than just a ravenous alien entity. She had some sort of Lifestream within her, like she has a good chunk of another world within her. Which shouldn't be possible. All living things have a sort of mini-Lifestream, but hers was far more dense. Jenova's a mystery."

"She's also, if what Shelke said about those tapes is true, the one who murdered so many of my people. _Our_ people, Vert."

"Two thousand years ago, Aerith. And given what our people turned into on Earth, they're as capable of evil as Jenova is." Vert shook his head. "I shouldn't have spared her, really. I normally wouldn't. And yet…she was in pain, Aerith. The part of her loyal to Sephiroth was torturing her. Remember what I said to Cloud back in Kalm? A friend of mine told me I have a 'saving people thing'. I don't know why I keep doing it. I wiped out Deepground, why did I spare Jenova?"

After a moment, Aerith mused, "Maybe you thought she was worth a second chance."

There was a knock on the door of the room. Vert sighed, and walked over to the door, opening it. Jenova was standing there, dressed in an almost obscene bikini. "Good evening."

"What do you want?" Vert asked.

"That is what I should be asking you. I've just had a rather…fulfilling discussion with Hojo," Jenova said.

Aerith scowled. "What did you do to him?"

"I killed him and ate his soul," Jenova said bluntly with an unapologetic shrug. "I thought you of all people would be grateful, Aerith. I saw his memories of what he did to you and your mother. Especially to your mother. He's certainly an acquired taste. He's like those century eggs from Wutai. Plus, I have just regained some more of my cells. But I just know he's going to repeat on me."

"…And the bikini?" Vert asked, trying to change the subject. Jenova was sounding frighteningly like she was a disturbingly sexy Dementor now.

"Oh, I had Miss Kisaragi appropriate it from one of the stores," Jenova said. "I think it looks good on me. Then again, considering I can shapeshift, I could have shifted my body to match it, or created the clothes myself. But…well, this appealed to me. A strange past-time, exposing one's self to ultraviolet radiation while lying on quartz granules with intermittent bathings in sodium chloride solution(3)…but the mating ritual aspects of such an activity are most amusing." Her face became serious. "Hojo knew more than he was letting on. It's more than a Reunion Sephiroth seeks." She then approached Aerith, and touched a hand to the Materia the Cetra kept in her ribbon. "You know what this is?"

After a moment, Aerith admitted, "The Ultimate White Materia. _Holy_. That's what my mother told me."

"It has a counterpart: the Ultimate Black Materia. _Meteor_. Hojo, thanks to the Jenova cells he injected into himself, knew of its existence. And so do I, as I was linked to Sephiroth. Sephiroth seeks it."

Vert frowned, having been told of the purposes of the two Materia by Minerva while he was in isolation. "Holy protects the Planet with a massive surge of holy energy, a shield and sword both. Meteor, however, brings in small planets from space, and crashes them into the Planet. A last resort for the Planet, normally meant to trigger the Omega Sanction."

"Omega Sanction?" Aerith asked.

"Something Shelke discovered during a Synaptic Net Dive, which Minerva confirmed. Sephiroth was Hojo's biological son, though I doubt Sephiroth knows that. His biological mother was Doctor Lucrezia Crescent, and she hypothesised that when the Planet is in peril of dying, the Lifestream is gathered into a single entity known as Omega, or Omega Weapon. Weapons are specialised monsters created by the Planet to protect it, usually by eliminating what the Weapons perceive to be threats. Omega is the ultimate Weapon. Once all the Lifestream has been gathered into Omega, Omega heads off for another world, while the Planet crumbles."

"Yes, but Sephiroth intends to use Meteor in another way. Create a massive wound in the surface of the Planet, rather like the one I created when I arrived here. Mako Energy will be sent there to heal it…and Sephiroth will absorb it," Jenova said. "He wants to become God by absorbing as much Mako as he can."

"Your tone suggests otherwise," Aerith said.

"Leaving aside the obvious, that I have that right alone, it is a risky scenario. I don't know how much Mako Energy my cells can contain. Sephiroth may be capable of pulling it off…or he might trigger the Omega Sanction that you mentioned…or he may just die with the rest of the Planet. Or else, he will overload on the energy. In almost all scenarios, I will die, along with the rest of you, or at least Sephiroth will try to subsume my personality. In any event, I would prefer to rule over a living world than a dead one. Life is so much more interesting than death."

"On that, if nothing else, we are agreed, Jenova," Aerith said.

 **CHAPTER 6 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Hope you like Jenova ending Hojo. I very nearly had her basically devouring him in a more conventional manner, until I decided to do something more like the Androids and Cell from** ** _Dragonball Z_** **. I thought of Cell's tail and the way Android 20/Doctor Gero impaled Yamcha while draining his energy.**

 **I wrote this chapter together with the previous one, but decided to hold off on posting it for a bit. I'd like to do some shameless plugging of my most recently updated fics. Firstly,** ** _Final Fantasy VI: The Abridged Series_** **, has gotten a whacky new chapter involving nudity, improvised Moogle weaponry, and Solid Snake. Secondly, the latest chapter of** ** _Esper Child_** **, my** ** _Final Fantasy VI_** **/Harry Potter crossover. Thirdly, the latest chapters of** ** _Tuebor_** **, my** ** _Final Fantasy VI_** **/** ** _Doctor Who_** **crossover. Fourthly, brand new chapters for** ** _Raison d'Etre_** **, and another** ** _Final Fantasy IX_** **fanfic,** ** _Zidane of Burmecia_** **. Fifthly, the latest chapter of** ** _Harry Potter and the Blue-Haired Angel_** **, a crossover with** ** _Evangelion_** **. And finally, and at long last, the fourth chapter of my** ** _Final Fantasy X_** **fic,** ** _Vincit Qui Patitur_** **. Hope you enjoy.**

 **1\. I originally developed this gag of the bikini girls having science degrees and wanting to be interns of Hojo for one of my screenshots for my Steam playthrough of** ** _Final Fantasy VII_** **(with the punchline that they're hired, but the poor medical ethics degree holder ended up in a stasis tank being experimented upon). I used this little conceit in Book 1.5 of the Cetra Heritage Saga,** ** _Birthday_** **. Here, the interns don't get the chance (and probably a good thing). Their last names are those of the English voice actresses for Aerith, Tifa, and Yuffie for** ** _Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children_** **.**

 **2\. This was something I hinted at in** ** _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_** **, a heavy implication that Hojo raped Ifalna while she was in their custody. Not that Hojo would view it as rape, but rather, as securing another possible specimen. He's a vile bastard.**

 **3\. I am sure I based this off a similar joke I read somewhere, either in a** ** _Doctor Who_** **story, or else in one of Douglas Adams' books. Anyone who knows where I got this from, feel free to say so in a review. It's bugging me.**


	8. Chapter 7: Reunion at Corel

**CHAPTER 7:**

 **REUNION AT COREL**

If there was a sight Vert wasn't quite expecting, it was the sight of Barrett being punched in the face…and taking the blow with a resigned look. Then again, Barrett, as they approached Corel, had warned them that he wasn't well-liked by the people of that town. He told the story of how he had encouraged the building of a Mako Reactor, only for Shinra to blame the populace when a terrorist explosion, caused by what turned out to be the first incarnation of AVALANCHE, destroyed the reactor. In truth, according to Shelke, Shinra had been planning to destroy Corel anyway, and the first AVALANCE was an excuse: Corel had been where the prototype Mako Reactor had been built, and many inhabitants had helped build it, and Shinra had been skittish about their industrial secrets coming out(1).

When Barrett heard this from Shelke, he got angry. Angry at Shinra for doing this and angry at the original incarnation of AVALANCHE. His wife and best friends had died because of corporate paranoia and the actions of the very group he had tried to emulate. He vowed that AVALANCHE, when he revived it, would be different.

Of course, this was before Barrett got punched in the face. As Barrett nursed the bruise on his face, Vert walked forward, just as the Corelians were about to walk away from Barrett. They were the last pathetic remnants of a coal-mining town, and 'North Corel' was now little more than a shanty town. "Excuse me," Vert said quietly.

The man who had punched Barrett turned, a big burly man. "Whaddya want? To pay me back for giving that moron payback?"

"No. I have reason to believe that a young woman, a cyberneticist by the name of Shalua Rui, lives here. There is someone who wants to see her."

The man snorted. "I don' trust Shinra or their freaks."

Behind his darkened glasses, Vert's eyes narrowed. "Then it's a good thing I deserted, along with the someone I mentioned. Please, show us to Shalua, or at least bring her here."

"I don' like your face," the man sneered, putting a fist into a hand in a clear sign of aggression.

Vert lashed out, his hand grabbing the man's throat, and lifting him into the air. Calmly, he said, "I don't like your attitude. Shalua has been waiting to be reunited with her sister for seven years. I'm sure she doesn't want the occasion marred by your corpses littering the ground. I was polite. Now, I'm being not so polite. If you want me to start actually being _rude_ , then by all means, continue on this course."

"Vert!" Aerith yelled. "Stop this!"

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Vert let go. "A little word of advice," he said quietly to the man. "I don't like being called a freak. Neither does my adopted sister. I tend to react… _badly_."

Jenova snorted as the man scurried away. "I thought you wanted to be diplomatic to find this Shalua Rui?"

"I _was_ being diplomatic," Vert said. "He ended up alive, conscious, and with no injuries beyond a bruised neck and dignity. Then again, he had little of the latter."

"I would have made sure he lost his breeding privileges," Shelke remarked. "My EM Sabres have an interesting effect on spermatozoa."

"Shelke?"

The woman who said this was just approaching the group. She was dressed in dark shorts and a shirt, her left arm a cybernetic limb. Her orange hair was longer than Shelke's. Her eyes peered at Shelke almost disbelievingly from behind glasses.

A faint smile played over Shelke's lips. "Shalua…"

Shalua Rui lunged, embracing the young Tsviet, sobbing quietly. "Shelke…it really is you! When I got those messages, I…I thought it might be some cruel prank, or Shinra trying to winkle me out, or…or…"

"Shalua…sister…I'm here," Shelke said.

* * *

Shalua led them all to a demountable that acted as her surgery. She recognised Barrett, having given him his gun-arm. And right now, she was talking to the others. "It's ironic you founded a new iteration of AVALANCHE, Barrett, considering I used to be with the old version," Shalua said.

Barrett frowned. "You were?"

"Yes, but I was in it to try and rescue Shelke from Shinra. However, Fuhito, who was the real leader of that iteration, was a twisted and cruel man, controlling the nominal leader, Elfé, from the shadows. When I attempted to leave, I was beaten and left to die. Ironically, it was the Turks who saved me."

"Elfé being Felicia, the brainwashed child of Veld, leader of the Turks at the time," Shelke explained. "Fuhito used Felicia for his own ends, intending to bring about the death of all humanity."

Cloud looked at Vert. "You mentioned Veld earlier while speaking to Tseng."

"The Turks were purged for various reasons: Veld and Felicia were one of them," Vert said. "Veld and Felicia are still alive: Tseng faked their deaths. Shelke has intercepted secret transmissions between Veld and Tseng after Veld's supposed death. But that's aside from the point."

Shelke nodded, turning to Shalua. "I…I was angry with you, you know. Wanting my big sister to come and rescue me from that hell that was Deepground. But Vert…he helped console me, soothe my anger towards you. Without him, I would be trapped in the very body you last saw me in. I could not be with my big sister in Deepground, but I had a big brother to make up for it."

Shalua embraced her sister. "And I'm so glad to find you still alive, Shelke!"

As the two sisters embraced, Barrett cleared his throat quietly. "Uh, sorry to break up the reunion, but I've gotta ask you something, Dr Rui. While I was on my travels, I heard rumours that you had another patient…"

Shalua nodded, gently, albeit reluctantly, pushing Shelke away. "Yes, I can guess. A few months after you left Corel after your surgery, a certain man came in, his left arm a mangled mess. I was surprised he had lasted as long as he had. On his demand, I grafted a gun-arm onto his left arm. But…when he woke up after surgery, I regretted doing that. The trauma of what happened to Corel, the loss of his family…and an infection affecting his brain shortly before he came here…he went on a rampage, shooting up much of this place, before fleeing for the desert. I've heard rumours that he's recently taken over the Corel Desert Prison."

"…Was it really him? Was it Dyne?"

"I'm afraid so," Shalua said quietly. "But Dyne's gone completely insane. He's a homicidal maniac."

"…His daughter is still alive," Barrett said quietly. "I found Marlene in the remains of his home. I adopted her. She doesn't know I'm not her real father."

"…He might react badly to hearing that," Cloud remarked.

Tifa nodded. "And in other news, Sephiroth's compensating for something with his sword."

"Ah, thanks for reminding me," Jenova said. She looked at Shalua. "Did you see people wearing black cloaks pass through this town? They may have been speaking of a Reunion, or else Black Materia?"

Shalua nodded. "About a day ago, a bunch of people did pass through here, talking about those very things. At least one said he was going to the Golden Saucer to check if Dio had anything of use. But the others...I heard them say something about Nibelheim. Also, rumours claimed that last night, Sephiroth himself strolled right through the town. Only a couple of notorious drunks saw him, though."

"It was him," Aerith said. "Or rather, a Jenova creature being manipulated by him. It's a long story."

"Then we should head to the Golden Saucer, see whether Dio has seen anything," Cloud said.

Yuffie grinned. "And maybe we have a bit of a holiday while we're there. God knows we need it, dealing with Shinra and those monsters."

Shelke looked over at her sister. "Shalua…would you come with us?"

After a moment's thought, the young doctor shook her head. "It's great to see you, Shelke, it truly is, and I would gladly join you normally. But…I have responsibilities here in Corel. I'm pretty much the only remotely-qualified doctor here. Even with curative Materia and potions, there are some things you still need pharmaceuticals and surgery for. That being said, feel free to stay here for the night before you head to the Golden Saucer. I'll also give you my PHS number. Actually, there's something I've been keeping an eye on, too."

"What's that?" Red XIII asked.

"I've done my own monitoring of Shinra's activities in the area. Recently, their comms chatter have noted an increased interest in 'Giant Materia'. In certain Mako Reactors, they can grow this Giant Materia, in the same way that nuclear fission reactors can create certain materials, like weapons grade plutonium."

Shelke frowned. "I believe I saw something about that. Not many files are kept on the Shinra network, and in any case, I was more interested in Hojo's files, as well as security system devices. They use some Giant Materia as ammunition for the Sister Ray cannon in Junon, though it can also be used to fire a bolt of Mako Energy. But even so, it may be for another reason. The main parties interested are Heidegger and Scarlet, so it is clearly a weapon of some kind they intend to use Giant Materia for."

"What's more, one of the reactors they're interested in is the one east of here. You probably passed it, having come here from Costa del Sol," Shalua said. "The Junon, Fort Condor, and Nibelheim reactors were also mentioned. I don't know whether that'll be of any use to your endeavours, though."

* * *

Later that night, Shalua and Shelke were sitting outside the demountable, looking up at the stars. "It's been a long time, hasn't it? I mean, not just since we were together last, but since we looked up at the night sky, huh?"

"I hadn't seen the sky outside of pictures for seven years," Shelke said. "Until I was taken by Shinra, I took the night sky for granted. Or fresh air. Or a decent meal, outside of military rations. Even growing up. I didn't even go through puberty until Vert infused me with enough Mako Energy to break through the blocks Shinra's incompetence placed in my body. That was an interesting few months, to say the least."

"Interesting in the Wutaian curse sense?"

Shelke smiled wryly. "Having the body of a nine year old had maybe a couple of advantages. Mako suits may limit the effects of menses, but they don't remove them entirely. Sadly, I couldn't ask Rosso the Crimson how she coped, as she was dead by that time. But now, my body is back to its normal age. Not only that, but my strength has been enhanced. They considered me the weakest of the Tsviets. But now, I feel stronger."

"And what of Vert?"

"His past is rather painful, to say the least. But even as his humanity faded, he helped me retain my own," Shelke said. "And I like to think that I helped him retain _his_ humanity. We kept each other sane in that hell. He is very much a brother to me, even though we aren't related by blood."

Shalua smiled. "I'm glad. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you, Shelke, I truly am. And I'm glad that Vert was there to help you stay sane. Maybe once this whole mess with Sephiroth is over, I can offer him a home with us."

Shelke nodded. "Even so, I believe he may decline. I don't think Corel would be his place to live. And I think he may have eyes for Aerith. I saw the way he looks at her. It's subtle, I don't think he even truly realises it, but he has more than just simple attraction to her. I think it's partly because they are the last two Cetra in existence on this world."

"So they're both Cetra?"

"Yes. Mako Infusion enhances their powers, that's why you can see a Mako glow in her eyes," Shelke said. "And the stakes are very high, for they believe Sephiroth may do extreme harm to the Planet in order to attain what he believes to be ultimate power. Shinra doesn't quite get how big a threat Sephiroth is. Assuming we encounter any of their staff who will listen, we'll relay that."

"Good luck finding any," Shalua said. "I know Shinra isn't completely full of heartless bastards, but you have to look pretty hard to find anyone sane in the Turks or the executives these days. Most of the sane ones left after that business with the original AVALANCHE."

"Even so, we must try. Sephiroth may be endangering the entire world." Shelke looked at her sister. "That is why we must stop him…"

 **CHAPTER 7 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **A reunion between Shelke and Shalua. I hope you enjoyed. I considered bringing Shalua into the party, but decided there's already more than enough people there. Especially with Cait Sith, Vincent, and Cid yet to come.**

 **Review-answering time! A couple of reviewers remarked on the similarity between the Omega Sanction (the Omega Weapon process) and Jenova. This is no coincidence, as I am using the same theory I developed while writing** ** _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_** **: that Jenova is like Minerva, only having evacuated from a dying world, and having become corrupted and maddened by the long isolation. She will gradually be redeemed.**

 **Reishin Amara** **: Well, sorry, but in this work, Sephiroth is Lucrezia and Hojo's son. You'll just have to get some brain bleach to deal with it. :P Still, I can put an even worse mental image in your head. While writing the latest chapter of** ** _Resident Evil: Basilisk_** **, I had Harry thinking of Ricardo Irving as the mutant lovechild of Peter Pettigrew and Dolores Umbridge. (Evil laughter) :)**

 **Jayfeather912** **: Haven't decided on any of that. If anyone from the Potterverse does arrive, it won't be until later, possibly at Nibelheim.**

 **KaiserUltima** **: You know, that's not a bad idea. But it'll have to go on the backburner…**

 **1\. According to the Final Fantasy VII Ultimania, along with** ** _Before Crisis_** **, anyway…**


	9. Chapter 8: Interlopers

**CHAPTER 8:**

 **INTERLOPERS**

The young woman standing in the foyer of the Golden Saucer was nervous, to say the least. She and her companions had come to this place to try and relax, take their minds off their admittedly urgent mission to find their target. They had been searching this continent high and low for any sign, but none had eventuated. And the problem was, she wasn't sure what would happen when they eventually did find their target.

The woman had just emerged from the Speed Coaster. She had found it hadn't done much to calm her nerves. Quite the opposite, they had exacerbated it, though one of her companions' excited screaming hadn't helped. She had come here to try and take a breather, before heading for one of the other areas of the Golden Saucer. For the moment, she just watched the people walking by.

But then, a large group of newcomers entered the foyer, including…was that a mountain lion with a flaming tail? "…have fun, okay? I mean, I know we're busy and all, but even so, I haven't had a chance like this for ages! Come on, Barrett, cheer up!" a young woman with brown hair, and green eyes said to a burly dark-skinned man, who had a gun grafted where his arm would be.

"…I ain't in the mood to cheer up," the dark-skinned man, presumably Barrett, said.

"Well, too bad," the woman said. "Let's go!"

"Aerith," said another young woman quietly, a young woman with long brown hair and a rather prodigious bust, "I don't think he'll want to do anything here."

Then, one of those present, a young man wearing a high-collared cloak and dark glasses, spoke in a voice that sent chills down the watcher's spine. "Barrett, if you need to work off some anger, go to Battle Square. While you're at it, see if you can find Dio, the owner of this place. He has a trophy room at Battle Square."

Barrett growled, before saying, "Fine. Better than pissin' around while we're meant to be findin' Sephiroth."

The watcher felt another chill at that name as Barrett stormed off and leapt into the tube leading to Battle Square. She decided that she needed to keep an eye on this group, or at least part of it. That was part of her mission, after all.

"Hey, Cloud?" the buxom young woman asked. "How about we head to Speed Square?"

A young man with spiky blonde hair and a massive sword on his back nodded. "Sure, Tifa. You guys fine?"

"Of course," purred an elegant, pale woman with snow-white hair. "I think a brief diversion will do us the world of good. I'll go and follow Mr Wallace, make sure he doesn't get into trouble. Miss Kisaragi, I believe they have rare Materia on offer at Battle Square as prizes for their arena matches. That's what Hojo's memory states."

A teenage girl who looked Asian said, "Right! Gonna show off my skills!"

"Red XIII? Shelke?" the young man with the high-collared coat asked.

"I am curious about Chocobo Racing," a teenaged girl in a skintight battle outfit said. "Red XIII?"

"Sure, I'll come with you," the mountain lion spoke, yes, spoke, in a gentle, deep voice.

"Where are we going?" Aerith asked.

"Wonder Square," the young man wearing the high-collared coat said. "I wish to play. And it may be that Dio may be doing the rounds within Golden Saucer." The two then walked to the tube and entered it.

The watcher, after a moment, took out a wooden stick, and summoned up what looked like the ghostly image of an otter, outlined in silvery light. "Everyone, he's here. _Harry Potter is in the Golden Saucer!_ "

* * *

As they were whisked along the tube, Vert sneezed. "I think someone's talking about me," he muttered.

"You told me that you were famous back home," Aerith said. "You'd be sneezing more often."

Vert chuckled darkly. "True. Even so, I got the feeling we were watched in the atrium. I didn't see who it was. Can't be the Turks, unless they decided to ditch those suits. And given my abilities as a Cetra, I didn't really sense any malign intent…for the moment. I can't always do that."

They emerged from the tube to be confronted by a most extraordinary figure. A dumpy, rotund white beast, a massive Mog, with what looked like a black cat, wearing a crown and a cape, riding it. "Hey, you!" he called out, his voice having a Scottish accent that reminded Vert a little of McGonagall's. "What're you looking down in the dumps for? You want me to read you your fortune?"

"I know what my fortune is," Vert said. Then, he realised he had seen this cat before, in files Shelke had hacked out of Shinra. "Cait Sith…"

"Gesundheit?" Aerith asked.

"Oh, so my fame has spread?" the cat asked. "I dinnae ken it had spread that far!"

Vert walked over to the cat, then held out a hand, causing the cat to lift off his Mog mount with a surprised yowl. He then flew over to Vert, who caught him by the scruff of the neck, and gestured for Aerith to come with him to a quiet corner of the Wonder Square foyer. The Mog mount followed. "What the heck d'you think you're doin', ye Sassenach?!" Cait Sith protested.

"Shut up. I know what you are, and in all likelihood, who's pulling the strings," Vert said. "Had Shelke not pulled the files from your servers in a fit of boredom, I think your subterfuge would have worked, Cait Sith…or rather, Reeve Tuesti."

"Reeve Tuesti?" Aerith asked.

"One of the main executives of Shinra," Vert said. "The Head of Urban Development, he's a brilliant architect, the creator of the Mako Reactor…and a roboticist and programmer of quite excellent skill too. Not to mention he's the only executive on the board of Shinra who isn't insane, immoral, or both. Though if he truly had any objections to the way Shinra was run, he would leave."

"I'm under contract!" Cait Sith protested. "And President Shinra said that if I left, he'd kill my mother first, and then me! Rufus'd probably do the same thing!"

"Okay, so he had leverage over you. I'll give you a chance, then." Vert then dropped the cat. "What're you doing here?"

"Rufus Shinra suggested usin' me to infiltrate AVALANCHE," Cait Sith said, clambering onto his Mog mount again. "I guess I got rumbled too soon. He's tryin' to keep an eye on you, especially after you told the Turks about Sephiroth being actually some sort of Jenova creature. I was t'keep an eye out for Hojo too, if he came this way. That Sassenach's a slippery bugger."

"Hojo isn't a concern anymore for Shinra. An associate of ours killed him," Vert said.

"Yeah, some of our people spotted some platinum blonde dressed like Rufus. She wasn't with AVALANCHE before, and neither was that Wutai girl, Yuffie. We ken who she is, I mean, she is Lord Godo's daughter after all. But who's the blonde?"

"Jenova. Part of Jenova that opposes Sephiroth," Vert said. He only said that because he had an impish notion of Reeve Tuesti shitting himself when he heard that. And Rufus shitting himself as well when he heard that. "She's the one that killed Hojo."

"That was Jenova?" Cait Sith asked. "What indescribable horror is she perpetrating?"

* * *

In Battle Square of Golden Saucer, a muscled man with a gun for an arm (well, he used to: it was currently lying in pieces on the floor) was being held up by the neck by Jenova, as the wounded were tended to. "Now say it! SAY IT!"

"Fuck…you…" rasped the man.

"I SAID SAY IT!" Jenova yelled, shaking the man.

"OKAY, OKAY! YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM! YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE LIFEFORM(1)!"

Jenova then looked down at the man's trousers, where a dark stain was spreading. "And you are incontinent, Dyne."

Watching on, Barrett muttered, "Is it wrong for me to feel sorry for Dyne? I mean, he was gonna shoot up all these people. He already did before we stepped in."

"I dunno. Popcorn?" Yuffie asked, proffering a cardboard bucket.

"Thanks. Hey, where'd you get this from?"

"Concession stand. You can watch the fights, you know."

"Ah, cool." Barrett then returned his gaze to Jenova, who was still holding Dyne up by the neck. Quietly, he added, "I'm glad that bitch is on our side for now."

"What was that, Mr Wallace?" Jenova asked, her voice just a touch too sweet. That sort of dangerous tone that promised imminent violence in the near-future.

"Um, uh, I gotta bad itch on my side! It always happens when I'm comin' down off an adrenaline high!" Barrett said hastily.

"Nice save," Jenova said, flashing him a smile that was more teeth than good cheer.

"What the hell are you doing, you motherfuckers(2)?!" roared a man wearing little more than a posing pouch, an indignant scowl and a moustache as he stormed into Battle Square, security guards following him.

"I never fucked my mother," Jenova said. "I don't even know whether I even have one. As for this guy, well, he comes from a former coal-mining town where incest may have been the local pastime, so he might actually be a motherfucker. He's certainly one metaphorically, considering he snuck on board a cargo elevator up from your little penile-ridden penal colony, intending to wreck some shit here. Thankfully, my minions and I were able to stop him before he could actually kill anyone. Shoot people in some painful and dangerous places, true, and I am sure your security guard lost his dignity with that bullet wound to his left buttock, but at the moment, he hasn't killed anyone during his sojourn, though I am sure he has a long list of victims he wanted to add to. Any further questions? Only, I'm feeling a mite peckish, and I'm sure eating one of the hotdogs in your concession stand here will repeat on me."

Dio, the owner of Golden Saucer, blinked, before he looked over at Barrett and Yuffie, eating popcorn. "Is she with you?"

"Sadly, yes," Barrett said. "That guy she's manhandling used to be my best buddy. We're not exactly on speaking terms at the moment."

"Mostly because my hand is around his throat," Jenova said. "Now, Dyne, you had better own up to Mr Dio about the naughty things you have done. Otherwise…" She grinned, showing sharp teeth, like the maw of a shark. "Oh, Grandma, what sharp _teeth_ you have!"

* * *

"Probably doing something for her own amusement," Vert said. "Should've seen her when we fought her on the cargo ship. I like her better as she looks now. Now, Reeve, if you're really that concerned, I'll let you tag along. Do anything too treacherous, though, and I will demonstrate to Aerith that I know a lot of ways to skin a cat."

"Okay, okay, I get the picture!" Cait Sith protested.

"Are you sure?" Aerith asked. "I mean, he is a spy for Shinra."

"Quite frankly, yes. I'm more willing to have him around than Jenova, and for a few good reasons. One, better a spy we know than a spy we don't. Two, if we need to get information to Rufus Shinra and the Turks that they may need to know, then we can tell Cait Sith, and thus, Reeve. Three, I'm something of a cat person anyway. Four, Reeve's one of the saner people in Shinra's higher echelons, and I'd sooner trust him than any of the other executives, and he'd be more likely to lie by omission than fabrication. Five, I know where he is, what his favourite food is, and what his embarrassing nickname was at high school." Sotto voce, he whispered to Aerith, "It was 'Tuesticle'."

Aerith, despite herself, laughed. "Did Shelke dig that up too?"

"She got bored, hacked the personnel files. Found the blackmail material Scarlet had on the other executives. Incidentally, Reeve, the next time Heidegger bullies you, say that you heard about the incident with the pool balls the doctors had to remove from somewhere very inconvenient. He'll either kill you, or do anything you say."

"Duly noted. By the way, what's with the lass with the bushy hair who's been starin' at you while we've been talking? D'you have a stalker or something?"

"Other than the Turks?" Vert said as he turned around, the import of the words 'bushy hair' not actually striking home until he saw who it was. Then, quietly, he said, "…No…no, no, no…not her. It can't be her. They can't come here, not here, they…"

Aerith realised that not only did Vert recognise the young woman with the bushy hair, but he was panicking. He never really panicked per se in her entire time of knowing him, which was admittedly about a short period of time.

"Harry, it's me," the bushy-haired young woman said. But before she could say anything, Vert roared, sending a Fire spell at her. Her eyes widened, and she whipped what looked like a carved stick…no, a _wand_ , in front of her, and the spell splashed against it, dissipating.

"YOU CAN'T BE HER! SHE DIED! THEY ALL DIED! DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD!" Vert howled dementedly, sending more spells at the woman, forcing her to back away, using whatever ability she had to nullify the spells to protect herself. "HARRY'S DEAD, PADFOOT'S DEAD, RON'S DEAD, YOU'RE DEAD, DEAD DEAD DEAD!"

"HARRY, STOP THIS!" the woman yelled, before she sent her own spells at him. Vert managed to bat most of them away, until one red one caught him, and sent him flying, sprawling against a wall, semi-conscious, his glasses askew. The woman then rushed over, gently cupping his face. "Oh God, oh God, Harry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, but…"

Aerith looked at her in astonishment, getting up from where she had dived for cover as the barrage began. "Who are you? Why did you call him Harry? And why did he react so badly?"

"He must've thought we were dead. A lot are. So many died. We thought he had too. As for why I called him Harry, well, that's his name."

"Harry died screaming," Vert said in a sing-song voice faintly. "Now there is only Vert the Emerald."

The woman brushed aside his hair, then waved her wand at it. After a moment, she embraced him. "Oh thank God, it's gone! They're all gone, and he won't be coming back! Harry…oh, Harry…what did they do to you?"

"Stop calling me that," Vert said weakly, his green eyes, bloodshot and glimmering with tears, staring at her. "Harry died…Harry died screaming."

"Sorry, we'll talk later, Harry. This is real, though. _Somnus_." Vert's eyes closed. "I think we'd better take him to Ghost Square," the woman said. "My friends…his friends are waiting. What few of them are left, and willing to believe he was still alive. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your names?"

"I'm Aerith Gainsborough," Aerith said. "That's Cait Sith. And who are you?"

"I was once one of his best friends, Aerith," the bushy-haired young woman said. "My name is Hermione Granger. And I think we may be too late…"

 **CHAPTER 8 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, Hermione has arrived on the scene, Jenova's owned Dyne, and Vert/Harry's had a major conniption. He sort of resigned himself to the fact that everyone he cared about was dead, and while he seemed mentally stable, in truth, his stability was relatively fragile, and once someone he thought dead came along, well…**

 **I didn't intend to bring in more characters from the Potterverse until later, but I was struggling for having anything to do in the Golden Saucer. Hence Hermione's introduction. Oh, and Jenova kicking Dyne's arse and thus preventing that whole 'Desert Prison and Chocobo Racing' bullshit.**

 **BTW, I have FINALLY found an excellent version of** ** _The Man with the Machine Gun_** **. That's Laguna's battle theme from** ** _Final Fantasy VIII_** **, if you didn't know. I knew that, if done right, it could be done well in an orchestral version, but the few orchestral versions I've heard (including concert versions) didn't sound right, and the original and even the more competent remixes sounded too much like dance music. But BitSymphony has managed to do the best ever version of** ** _The Man with the Machine Gun_** **, and he did it in an orchestral way.**

 **Oh, and incidentally, for those of you not in the know, the Cetra Heritage Saga now has its own tropes page on TV Tropes!**

 **1\. Although this reference is, apparently, originally from the** ** _Sonic the Hedgehog_** **franchise, I first read this line from** ** _Nobody Dies_** **, Gregg Landsman's excellent** ** _Neon Genesis Evangelion_** **fic. In that story, it is Kaworu saying it to Rei…the latter about as sane, humorous and powerful as Jenova, though nowhere near as malevolent.**

 **2\. I have never read** ** _My Immortal_** **, nor do I intend to. Even so, with Dio arriving, I could not resist sinking so low as to make a reference to that work.**


	10. Chapter 9: Ghosts from the Past

**CHAPTER 9:**

 **GHOSTS FROM THE PAST**

Aerith watched as Vert was gently laid out on a bed at the Ghost Square Haunted House Hotel. She realised that, despite his being frank about his age, he still acted so very old. And yet, he now looked younger than he even claimed his age to be, in troubled repose.

There were four others in the room with them, not counting Cait Sith and Hermione. One was a haggard-looking man, perhaps in his forties, with dark hair and grey eyes, handsome, but haunted, with a neat beard. Another was a greasy-haired man with a prominent nose and a rather sour expression, though his dark eyes were filled with…sorrow? Regret? Concern? All of the above? There was a stocky young man, about her age, Vert's, and Hermione's. And finally, there was a strange, ethereal-looking girl with silvery blonde hair, a dreamy expression, and…a very familiar feeling to Aerith's newfound Cetra abilities. She realised, with a chill, that that last girl was a Jenova creature, or at least a hybrid. And yet, her expression, looking down at Harry, despite the dreaminess, was also sad.

"What's happened to him?" the bearded man asked.

"Clearly nothing good, Black," the greasy-haired man said in a nasal, resonant tone. "Whatever's been done to Potter probably broke him, and we're looking at the badly-repaired result. Granger?"

"There's no Horcrux, Snape," Hermione said. "Whatever's been done to him got rid of it."

The greasy-haired man, now called Snape, frowned, before he took out a wand, and waved it at Vert's forehead. Suddenly, Vert's hand lashed out, grabbing Snape's hand, crushing it, and his eyes snapped open, the green irises glowing, his face twisted into a furious expression. " _Clear your mind, Snape!_ " Vert snarled, before Snape staggered back with a scream of pain, clutching his head, collapsing to the ground and convulsing. "YOU DON'T LIKE IT WHEN IT HAPPENS TO YOU, YOU GREASY-HAIRED SNIDE LITTLE **_FUCK!_** OH, AND WHAT'S THIS?! YOU FUCKING…" Vert then subsided, shutting his eyes in pain, anger, and even sorrow. After a moment, he said, more quietly, "I'm torn between giving you a hug, and using the fucking Cruciatus Curse on you until you forget your toilet training. As it is, I am going to have to scrub my fucking skull out with fucking _bleach_ to get the feeling of your memories out of it. Including those fantasies of my mother you beat off to. Hope you're enjoying the memories of what I went through in Deepground. And if there's any way to bring back the dead, I am going to bring back Dumbledore, and kick him in the nuts until his groin is testicular purée. Same for Voldemort, assuming he had any nuts."

Aerith, after a moment, said to Vert, "I see you have history with these people."

"With Snape, it's less history and more him being a complete twat just 'cause I resembled Daddy too much. That, and I reminded him of the fact that Daddy had sex with my Mummy, and Snape loved my Mummy, and got this creepy stalker vibe after she broke off the friendship for him calling her a Mudblood."

"Harry…" the man called Black began, but Vert cut him off.

"Harry's not here at the moment. He's pushing up the daisies. You're speaking to Vert the Emerald. How can I help you?" As Black gaped, Vert said, "That idiot who called me Harry is Sirius Black, my godfather, dogfather, all-round lech, and the idiot I saved from falling through the Veil, only to do so myself. The greasy-haired prick currently vomiting on the carpet is Severus Snape, cocksucker to both Voldemort and Dumbledore, and he hates my guts. He may look a bit like Hojo, but he has a few redeeming features, buried deep down. Still thinking of asking Jenova to eat him anyway. You've met Hermione Granger, bookworm, bossy boots, and the brightest witch of her generation…when she isn't running after stupid causes like liberating House Elves. Oh, and she was one of my best friends. That's probably Neville Longbottom, except he's gotten a level in badass. Kudos, Nev. And that looks like Luna Lovegood, except I could have sworn she wasn't a Jenova hybrid when I last saw her. And yet, she smells of one to me. Then again, that would explain a lot."

"I like your new name, Harry," Luna said. "Vert the Emerald. Like your eyes. Filled with Shimmering Luminites now."

"…What?" Aerith asked.

"She's like that. As I said, being a Jenova hybrid would explain a lot," Vert said. He then shut his eyes. "Who did die? Don't sugarcoat it."

"…Too many of us," Sirius admitted. "Voldemort is dead, and so are most of the Death Eaters. But so's most of the Order. Moony's alive, and he's with Tonks. They came here to this world too, but they're at some place called Nibelheim. But the Weasleys…the only ones left are Ron and George. Oh, and Bill. He's working with Fleur Delacour at Gringotts. As for the staff at Hogwarts, well, McGonagall's dead, as is Sprout. Same for Trelawney, Hagrid…"

These names hit Vert hard, Aerith could tell. He closed his eyes, and asked, "I know Dumbledore's dead, thanks to Snape's memories. Stupid old goat, hoarding that information about the Horcruxes. What about Malfoy? Bellatrix? Umbridge?"

"Umbridge got kicked out when Rufus Scrimgeour took over as Minister. They turned you into a martyr, Harry," Hermione said quietly. "Umbridge opted to join the Death Eaters in earnest. During the Battle of Hogwarts, I sliced her neck open with a Cutting Curse. It was the first time I killed someone. It wasn't be the last. Draco Malfoy defected from his father and helped us. He's changed, for the better. A little, anyway. But his father got hit by Fiendfyre that raged out of control. And Bellatrix Lestrange…"

"I had to kill her when Voldemort got killed by Neville. She went apeshit, to say the least. Tried to use the Cruciatus on him," Sirius said.

Vert laughed. "Neville killed Voldemort? Congrats." After a moment, he said, "And you came here to make sure that the Horcrux wasn't left in me."

"We came here mostly to see if you were still alive," Hermione said. She looked over at Luna. "We'd thought that Luna had died during the Battle of Hogwarts too, hit by a Blasting Charm, but…she reappeared a few months ago. She claimed she needed to restore herself, undergo something called a Reunion. She told us that the Veil was actually a remnant of something called the Cetra Exodus."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah. According to myth from long ago, a bunch of witches and wizards suddenly turned up across the world. Supposedly, they were fleeing their own world due to something called the Calamity from the Skies, aka Jenova. I only really knew the myth from some old book in Grimmauld Place. Anyway, Luna said that she could use a special ritual to bring us to this world."

"I had help," Luna said, displaying a bangle with a pair of crimson Materia.

"Summon Materia?" Aerith asked.

"Anyway, we came here to find you. We also needed to check if the Horcrux was gone, as it was the only one left now, and we didn't want the Dark Wanker coming back," Sirius said. "Dumbledore had some plan or other, but Snape…"

"Had a potion ready, one that could kill me," Vert said.

In the silence that followed, Hermione broke it by saying, "Harry, what happened to you?"

Before he could reply, the door to the room opened, and Shelke, along with Red XIII, entered, her EM sabres ready, but not actually activated. Every one of the newcomers, save for the still convulsing Snape who was still insensate, didn't know whether to be more wary of the teenager in the figure-hugging battlesuit, or the red mountain lion. "Vert, are you all right?" she asked quietly.

"I've been better. Everybody, this is Shelke Rui, aka Shelke the Transparent, the nearest thing I've had to a sister all these years. Did you hack the surveillance feeds or something?"

"After I heard about a commotion at Wonder Square, I did," Shelke said. "Who are these people?"

"Gimme a moment. Sorry, I forgot to introduce you, Red XIII."

"That's fine," the mountain lion said.

"…It can talk?" Neville asked.

" _He_ can talk," Vert corrected him.

"Thank you, Vert. It's good to see someone treating me as someone other than an exotic pet or a barely-tamed beast in this place," Red XIII said.

"Sorry," Neville said.

"Apology accepted."

"Anyway, Shelke and I were part of the same military unit known as Deepground. It was not a nice place to be, as Snape is finding out," Vert said.

"…Will he be all right?" Sirius asked.

"I think the better question is, should I care? Red XIII was captured and used as a specimen in highly dubious experiments elsewhere by the same company, Shinra. Cait Sith, that cat toy thing, is actually a robotic spy used by the only guy in Shinra's upper echelons to have a conscience. Aerith here is like us, a natural mage, known on this world as a 'Cetra' or 'Ancient'. Shelke, that's Hermione, that's Sirius, that's Neville, and that's Luna. Oh, and that guy on the floor is Snape."

"Ah." Shelke activated one of her EM sabres, moved past the others to Snape, and then hit him between the legs, eliciting a high-pitched howl from the man.

"What did you just do?" Sirius asked. "Not that I'm complaining, mind, but…"

"I sterilised him."

"…Are you a Marauder, by any chance? Harry?"

"Vert. And no. She just gets viciously protective of me. And vice versa," Vert said. "I told her about Snape while we were in Deepground."

"Harry…" Hermione said, moving over to the bed, and gently hugging Vert.

"…Harry's dead, Hermione. He died screaming. _Screaming_." Then, Vert began sobbing as he returned her embrace. "But…at least you're still alive. I thought…I thought…you…" Emotions long since tamped down burst forth. At least this time, he wasn't hurling spells at anyone. Then again, emotions and feelings were far more painful, dangerous, and deadly than any spell. He was crying in relief and sorrow. Relief that some of his friends survived, sorrow that others didn't.

The moment was spoiled when Snape got to his feet, shakily. "Potter…" he growled, only for Shelke to put an EM sabre to his throat.

"I confiscated your breeding privileges," Shelke said calmly. "Harm my brother, and I will confiscate your breathing privileges as well. Be thankful I haven't done so already. And his name is Vert. Shinra murdered everything that was Harry."

"If that's the case, why does he care about us?" Luna asked pointedly. After a moment, she said, "I'll be back. I need to see someone." She made to leave, before saying, "Oh, Vert, I forgot." She plucked the two Materia from her bangle, and tossed them over to him. "These two wanted to say thanks. Bye!"

As she skipped out, Aerith asked, "What did she mean by that?"

"Harry…I mean, Vert," Hermione said. "Remember our first year? That whole business with the Philosopher's Stone? In truth, it never existed. Dumbledore merely used the rumour of it to lure Voldemort to Hogwarts to try and trap him. Just…channel your magic into them."

Vert, after a moment, did so. In a flare of light, two more people appeared in the room. One was a man with elegant features and a long main of silvery white hair, though his face looked young. So too did the woman, a red-haired one with almost aristocratic features.

"Ah, good. We're back home," the man said, in a voice that seemed to have a slight French accent. "And here's the one who saved the day. Nine years ago now, isn't it? It feels a lot different from the Philosopher's Stone, doesn't it, Harry?"

Vert, after a moment, murmured, "Nicholas Flamel…"

"Yes. That is the name I chose to adopt, taking the form and identity of my former master when he passed on, and gave me freedom. So too did his wife. For centuries, we were known as Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. In truth, we were summon entities from this world, a world we haven't seen for two millennia. In truth, I am Ixion, and my wife is Valefor."

* * *

Barrett watched his former best friend die in horror and sadness. He had made the mistake of mentioning that Marlene was alive, and Dyne promptly said he needed to see Marlene…so that he could send her to her mother, to keep her company in the afterlife. Barrett protested. Dyne may have been without his gun-arm thanks to Jenova, but he had tried to rush Barrett, trying to force him to kill him. He was straddling him, punching him, until Jenova had hauled him off him, and then impaled him on one of her hands. Even now, Dyne was screaming in pain as whatever Jenova did to him kill him. "Dyne!" he yelled, trying to pull Jenova's hand out, only for the alien entity to swat him away with her other hand.

Dyne stopped screaming, and then looked at Barrett, his eyes filled with a lucidity that hadn't been there for a long time. "Barrett…take care of her…my hands…they're too…stained…for Marlene…I…" Suddenly, he spasmed and went limp. Then, his body faded into swirls of Mako Energy, which flowed into Jenova's body.

"Fool," Jenova said. But Barrett realised that Jenova had spoken not condescendingly, not entirely. There was a hint of sadness, and pity in the alien entity's tone. "He wanted to die, and so I granted him that desire. Be thankful that he no longer lives to be a threat to your adoptive daughter, Mr Wallace."

"Shut up! You don' understand!" Barrett roared at her.

"I have his memories at my disposal," Jenova retorted. "I understand more than you'd like. The hatred in his heart towards you, Shinra, the whole world…if he had the ability to set this world ablaze, he would do so and piss on the ashes, before throwing himself into an abyss. I merely granted him a mercy he didn't deserve. Marlene wouldn't recognise him. He knew that. He wanted you to kill him, or else he'd kill you. He was just a decrepit cur looking to die."

"Don't you talk about Dyne like that!" Barrett roared. Then, quietly, "It's not like my hands are any cleaner…"

"Then why don't you give up and die like he did?" Jenova said coldly. "I'm more than happy to accommodate you."

As she reached out a hand, he swatted it away. "I ain't gonna give up, 'specially to the likes of you!"

"Then stop your snivelling." She then turned to Dio and the guards. "Well, do you have anything to add?"

"…No. You did help save my staff from death from a homicidal maniac. Though I was wondering whether you'd care to engage in some battles. It might be interesting if I brought out the tougher monsters."

"I'll consider it, but I'd like some information. Did anyone wearing a black cloak, or anyone resembling Sephiroth, do anything in this place?"

"…Do you know that boy with the spiky blond hair and his girlfriend? They asked the same thing."

"Cloud and Tifa? Yes. Well?"

"I'll tell you what I told them. Some boy in a black cloak and with a tattoo of the number '1' on his arm came by, asking if I knew anything about 'Black Materia'. I've got plenty of things in my collection, even a key said to belong to the Temple of the Ancients, but not a Black Materia."

"And did he say where he was going?"

"Not a thing, not to me, anyway."

"I'd put money on Nibelheim," Jenova mused, more to herself than anything. Then, a little louder, she said, "Thank you. Now, we…" She halted when she saw a strange girl skipping up to her from behind Dio and the others. And she felt the strangest feeling from her.

The girl, with silvery-blonde hair and a dreamy expression, skipped up to her, and said, "Hello, Mother. I'm Luna. Now isn't this a nice Reunion?"

 **CHAPTER 9 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Hope you enjoyed that. We'll elaborate a little more on what happened, but most of the Horcrux hunt was undertaken by Dumbledore, Snape, and Sirius. Hopefully, this will be the end, more or less, of the diversions at the Golden Saucer.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Reishin Amara** **: Well, dunno about Hermione or Aerith (whoever you mean), but Luna certainly might… :)**

 **KaiserUltima** **: Harry will tell everyone about Cait Sith.**

 **KazuSakai** **: Luna got them to the Planet, via a ritual used in a different story,** ** _The New Cetra Heritage: Imago_** **, which is currently archived at** ** _The Cauldron_** **.**

 **Fireofargentis** **: Sirius was in too much shock at first to try, and by the time he did, well, Voldemort came on the scene. Hedwig was killed during battle, sadly, though not before she clawed out Lucius Malfoy's eyes. And Aerith wasn't a Tsviet, so no. As for Argento, I completely forgot about her. Assume she died while trying to help Harry.**

 **Zane Tribal Tyne Alexandros** **: Oh, as you can see above, you got some. Especially some humour, and revenge against Snape. Nice to see you reviewing this, BTW.**

 **Jostanos** **: See above in my response to KazuSakai. We'll explain it in further detail in a later chapter.**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	11. Chapter 10: The Truth About Jenova

**CHAPTER 10:**

 **THE TRUTH ABOUT JENOVA**

Their little expedition had grown, though whether that was a good thing or not, Vert didn't know. They were currently camping just near a ford between the Golden Saucer and Gongaga. Vert was currently sitting by himself, on the edge of a cliff near the ford, and he was currently contemplating what he had learned, that some of his friends were still alive. But at the cost of many others.

Snape was certainly not a friend. The scowling son of a bitch had opted to head back to Nibelheim for now via Apparition, deciding that he wanted nothing to do with Vert or Shelke for the time being. Vert was glad of it: he was sorely tempted to torture the greasy-haired fucker for what he had done. Neville and Hermione were going to accompany them as far as Cosmo Canyon, where the two had drawn the attention of Cosmo Canyon's de facto leader, a former Shinra researcher called Bugenhagen. Red XIII had heard that, and Vert learned that Red XIII had originally come from the area, and that Bugenhagen was his adoptive grandfather. Red XIII's real name, upon prompting, turned out to be Nanaki, and now, they were referring to him as such.

Cait Sith's status as a spy was outed to the others, and it was decided that it was better the spy they knew than one they didn't, though Barrett looked like he wanted nothing more than to tear Cait Sith apart. Luna, meanwhile, hung around Jenova, and Vert thought it hilarious that when Jenova first came back to them, Luna in tow, Jenova had this bemused look on her face, even more bemused than anyone normally did when near Luna. Sirius, meanwhile, intended to accompany them at least as far as Nibelheim, if not further.

As he looked at the Moon in the sky, he sensed someone walking up next to him, and then sitting down next to him. He knew it was Hermione. "Harry…I mean, Vert…are you all right?"

Vert snorted. "Ask a stupid question. No, I'm not. I haven't been for a long time. I don't think I was, even before I fell through the Veil. But…I'm glad you're still alive, Hermione. I'm glad some of you survived. Wish it was more of you. Just don't ask me to come back."

"I don't intend to," Hermione said. "If anything, I don't want to go back either. Too many memories, and too many of them bad. My parents were murdered by the Death Eaters before I could send them into hiding. Ron and I had some pretty big arguments about our families dying. And, well, Neville comforted me. We're married now. I'm actually Hermione Longbottom."

Vert chuckled. "Congratulations. You two deserve a happy ending."

"So do you. Shelke, while we were setting up camp, told me a bit about what you went through in Deepground, Vert. You're still Harry to me, you've still got your 'saving people thing'."

"Saving people? I murdered hundreds in Deepground," Vert scoffed bitterly.

"You snapped."

"Not really. I just could sense their thoughts. Not many of them had anything good, save for a lust for battle. Shinra's brainwashing was too good. Out of the Tsviets, I only liked three. Shelke, Nero, and Argento, our quartermaster. Argento died trying to stop Weiss from killing me, and Nero died sealing me away for killing his brother. Nero was a bit dark and broody, not to mention disturbingly enamoured with his brother, but…he was nice enough to me. I wish I didn't have to kill him."

"But…you feel guilt over those deaths, don't you?"

"Not really. That disturbs me. Maybe I've detached myself too much from their deaths, because to think about it too much…I'm already half-mad, Hermione. I might just end up even worse."

"…You're still my Harry. Battered and twisted, but you're still the guy I knew."

"You're wrong…but I appreciate the sentiment, Hermione," Vert said. Opting to change the subject, he said, "What's with Luna? Why does she seem like a Jenova hybrid?"

"That's because she is one," Hermione said. "Apparently, when the mages of this world fled to Earth, some of them were infected by Jenova. After a period of persecution, they went into hiding from the other mages. Eventually, they opted to renounce the rapacious attitude of Jenova. Luna was an attempt to create something not unlike Sephiroth. We know about his creation from what documents we found at Nibelheim, Vert. Luna, however, was aware of her mission from the start, but treated with love. She was created in case Voldemort came back."

"So, all her being odd was…because she was a Jenova hybrid?"

"Partly, yes. Many of those creatures she talked about were native organisms of the world Jenova originally came from," Hermione said. "And she was sensitive to the lifeforce of everything around her. But, there's more to it than that…"

* * *

Jenova looked at the young woman sitting across from her, like her, and yet, so unlike her. The one who had such an odd past. The one who was disturbing her just by existing. "More? How can there be more?"

"You forgot your true self, Mother," Luna said quietly. "When I was young, my mother died in an accident. The trauma…unlocked memories from your past. Our past. You weren't always a monster."

Jenova wanted to scoff, to retort sharply…but found herself not doing those things. A curiosity had crept over her. Her memories were so dim and dark, especially before she was exhumed by Shinra, she wanted to know. "What do you mean?"

"We can share memories, Mother," Luna said. "Let me show you what I remembered. Just some warning, though…it will be painful."

Jenova, wondering whether she would regret this, nodded. She then felt Luna's presence in her mind, gentle, unlike Sephiroth's crushing grip on her mind. It felt almost like she was scraping, gently, a thin veneer off something. Then, suddenly…

* * *

 _I am curled up alone in my prison. It's so dark in here, so very, very dark. I am alone. I will always be alone._

 _I remember screams. A green light. Pain. A pain that sears at my soul. Faces of all kinds. Cold night. And now, this. This eternity of misery._

 _I have been here for a very long time. Almost an eternity in the cold and the dark. I don't even know my name any more._

 _Suddenly, the prison shakes. Everything around me begins to heat up. I begin screaming, but there is nobody to hear. And then, suddenly, oblivion._

 _But not for long._

 _I emerge from my prison, a womb of rock and stone. I find myself assuming a strange shape, but one suited to my grandeur. But something is wrong with the air. The Lifestream here, as it curls around the wound created by my arrival…it is so alien…so different._

 _No, it's not fair! I_ saved _them! I undertook the Last Sanction, I unleashed the Gatherer and his Herald to harvest the survivors, make them become one with me so that we may find another world to continue…a shining future, where there had been none at all. And I arrived here, where there's already life?_

 _I couldn't do it again. Even if I was physically able to make the long trek across the dark, I couldn't do it again. My sanity was hanging by threads. In truth, it had already snapped._

 _I had made hard decisions before. I will again. As the native people approach, I know what I must do. In life, there is always the consumed and the consumer. The food and the eater._

 _The prey, and the predator._

 _First, I am subtle, entrancing them with illusions, before infecting them with my cells. Then, when they begin to fight back, I turn them and animals into my warriors. They had no right to resist! I had earned the right to survive! I must survive! Or else it meant nothing!_

 _Battles waged. Battles won. Battles lost. The Cetra manage to stop me, my main mass, even when so many of my cells are scattered across the world in the form of monsters. They named me Jeh-Nohva, Calamity from the Skies. And their punishment was to be the cruellest of them all._

 _They wanted to entomb me, once more, in a prison of stone._

 _I screamed and struggled, as, without remorse, they sealed me into the rock. And in the darkness, time and isolation erodes at my sanity and memories until all that's left is I, and the desire to consume._

 _Then, after what felt like an eternity, the light of day once more. I exchanged one prison for another, rock and stone for glass and drugged oxygenated liquid. They take parts of me piecemeal, while I stare at them. Eventually, I learn the language of a new world, separated from that of the Cetra not by distance but by time. Of scientists, of electricity, of Shinra. I learn the names of my tormentors: Hojo, Gast, Lucrezia…_

 _And then, they give me new children. Genesis, Angeal…Sephiroth…_

 _I feel Nibelheim burn from a distance, and find it good. I meet my son, properly, for the first time. But he believes me to be an Ancient, a Cetra. I am so much more than they are._

 _I watch him being attacked by a boy with spiky blond hair. I feel the strange sensation of having my head removed by Sephiroth. During another confrontation with the boy, we fall into the depths of the Mako Reactor…_

 _…And there, I try to take control. Only to find that, in his madness, Sephiroth has a strength far beyond anything I have encountered. And I am so much less than I once was…_

* * *

Jenova flinched back when the recollection ended, her eyes wide. "What…what did I see? What the hell am I?!"

* * *

"Apparently she was once some sort of guiding consciousness of another world," Hermione said.

"Like Minerva? She's the guiding consciousness of this world. Most people just call her the Goddess," Vert said.

"Yes. But a disaster befell her world, and she gathered the Lifestream of that world into a vessel, along with her consciousness," Hermione said.

"The Omega Sanction," Vert murmured. "Jenova must be a hybrid of Omega Weapon and the Goddess of her world. She intended to resettle on a new world. But there was already life here…"

* * *

"And the madness of millennia of isolation had taken their toll, reducing you to more of a creature of base predatory instinct than the Goddess you once were," Luna said quietly. "You were so determined to ensure your transplanted life survived, you attacked the Cetra, and anyone else who came near. First by infiltration, and then, outright war."

Jenova stared at her 'child' in horror. She was once a Goddess, like Minerva? And yet, she couldn't deny it. She couldn't denounce Luna as a liar. Because she knew these weren't implanted memories. She was a creature that knew memory more than perhaps every living thing on this Planet. They were forgotten memories, not implanted ones.

Tears began to well up in her eyes, and then, began trickling down her face. After a moment, she said, with considerable understatement, "I've fallen far."

"Yes, you have," came a voice from behind them, near a tree. Standing next to it, as if having just emerged from behind it, was Aerith. There was a look of pity and horror in her eyes. "I heard everything."

Jenova scowled, getting to her feet. "This changes _nothing_ , Cetra," she said coldly. "Our goal is the same as ever, to stop Sephiroth. After that, I see no reason to cooperate with you." She then stormed away.

* * *

Aerith watched the form of Jenova stride away into the night, tears running down her face. She was disturbed at what she heard, she had to admit that. She barely noticed Luna getting to her feet, and skipping over to Aerith. "Don't mind Mother. She's got too many Wrackspurts."

Aerith, despite knowing that Luna was a Jenova hybrid, actually liked her. It was probably because she was funny, even if she was strange. There was something likeable about her, loopy though she was. "I think it's more than that, Luna. Am I supposed to forgive the being who wiped out most of my people, or forced them to flee this world?"

"You seem to be okay being around Barrett or Vert. Barrett headed AVALANCHE, and you know what they did in Midgar. Dozens died in their attacks. And Vert…he wiped out Deepground."

"Even so, I know they're good people, deep down. I certainly know Vert is. I know that, as much as he'd like to deny it, I think he is still Harry Potter. When he taught me about my heritage, my powers…I think it's because he wanted to make up for that. And Barrett stormed Shinra HQ with Cloud and Tifa to save me. And from what Yuffie told me, he and Jenova fought to stop Dyne from killing those people at the Golden Saucer."

Luna looked at her with her wide, pale eyes, before she said, "There's a bond between you two, you know. More than that of being Cetra, or of working to stop Sephiroth. I think he chose you because you reminded him of his friends. Not of any particular friend, but…when he thought we died, I think it left a void in his heart he couldn't fill. And with Cloud regaining his friendship with Tifa…I think Cloud likes you as a friend, but his heart belongs to Tifa. Vert, though…you accept him as what he is. It helps that you never knew of the Boy Who Lived. Look after him, Aerith. And I guarantee, he will look after you. You are the glue that holds his mind and soul together now, along with Shelke…and he is the doorway into your realising the full nature of your Cetra Heritage. Aerith…he needs you."

"Are you saying he's in love with me? I certainly don't feel the same way," Aerith said. _Not yet_ , a little voice whispered in the back of her mind. It could have been her own voice, or her mother's. She had to admit, there was something attractive about Vert. It had been rather like how she had been attracted to Cloud, she realised. This sense of a fractured soul, needing nurturing and healing. And he had helped her in a way nobody else, not even her mother, had.

"I think it may become love, even if it isn't yet. And even if it doesn't, you heal his mind and soul just by being there. Maybe one day, he will allow you to call him Harry again. And Deepground only continued a process already started by Dumbledore. With the best of intentions, but you know what the road to hell is paved with. In a way, Dumbledore wanted someone like Sephiroth or Genesis, a good little soldier to fight."

"How do you know about Sephiroth and Genesis?" Aerith asked.

"I'm part-Cetra, Aerith, even if a lot of me is Jenova. I listen to the Planet. Minerva's…not happy with my being here. It wasn't until shortly before we came to Golden Saucer that we spoke about Vert. Minerva's accepted me now. Especially as we need to stop Sephiroth. Once she got over me having Jenova cells, she's actually quite nice." She looked over at where Jenova had stormed to with a rueful expression. "Maybe one day, so can Mother." After a moment, Luna said, "Aerith…I won't be travelling with you guys for a while. I'll tell Vert before I leave, but…Sephiroth's puppets are all over this continent, and indeed, this world. I need to stop them before they can do his will in earnest. There will be a Reunion…but not with Sephiroth or Jenova. Before I leave, I'll remove the Jenova cells from Cloud. Otherwise, he's a cuckoo in the nest. A Manchurian Candidate, only awaiting the right command from Sephiroth to strike." Luna smiled. "Don't worry, I won't let that happen. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a pudding with my name on it in my bag."

As she skipped merrily away, Aerith found herself struck by the night's events, and what she had learned. Jenova, being an object of pity as well as horror and hatred. And Luna…one of Vert's friends, between two worlds. No, three. That of the Planet, of Earth, and of Jenova's cells.

She wondered about what Luna had said. _Maybe one day, he will allow you to call him Harry_. Did Luna think Aerith had a chance of bringing what was left of Harry Potter from out of Vert the Emerald? She didn't know.

But Aerith liked helping people. Vert wasn't the only one with a 'saving people thing'. Maybe one day, she could save what was left of Harry Potter before he sunk into darkness forever…

 **CHAPTER 10 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So, there you have it. The Jenova memories will be familiar to anyone who has read** ** _Harry Potter and the Cetra Heritage_** **, or** ** _The New Cetra Heritage: Imago_** **. The latter, incidentally, has recently been archived in** ** _The Cauldron_** **, and the story itself will be deleted before long as of writing, so if you haven't updated your favourites to** ** _The Cauldron_** **, I suggest you hurry up. You only have a couple of weeks left at most.**

 **Now, while Vert and the main** ** _Final Fantasy VII_** **party will be doing the canon journey, the others from Earth will be doing other things, especially Luna. And the story may get derailed sooner than you'd think. You'll see.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Fireofargentis** **: No, we're not having anything other than fragmentary flashbacks at best to Harry/Vert's time in Deepground. This story is about Harry picking up the pieces.**

 **No numbered annotations.**


	12. Chapter 11: Lunacy and Lies

**CHAPTER 11:**

 **LUNACY AND LIES**

There was nothing like the sensation of flying, Luna Lovegood felt. Especially when one could grow wings and fly. Broomstick, magic carpet, aeroplane…nothing compared to being able to spread one's own wings. Of course, even Luna Lovegood had enough sense to use some charms to prevent anyone who looked up from seeing her (as well as lay some traps along the way). She may have a rather distant relationship with reality, but she wasn't stupid.

Harry, well, Vert didn't take her announcement that she was heading off to try and head off Sephiroth, or rather, his puppet clone, very well. He had a lot of Wrackspurts. Deepground hadn't been salutary to his mental health, to say the least. It had made him a lot more badarse, though.

In her mind, the voice of Minerva sounded. _I would take care, Luna_ , the Goddess said. _I don't think Harry will like it if you die._

 _That's what Portkeys are for_ , Luna said. _People may think I am crazy, but the subjective nature of sanity aside, I am not stupid. I was in Ravenclaw for a reason. And like Jenova, I can split parts of my body mass off to create 'spare' bodies._

 _Even so, Sephiroth is in a whole other league to virtually everyone you know, Luna_ , Minerva said. _You would do well to be cautious._

 _I've always had a little Gryffindor in me_ , Luna remarked. _Actually, if Harry hadn't gone through the Veil, I would have considered having a little Gryffindor_ _ **with**_ _him_.

After a moment, Minerva said, _I don't know whether to call that sweet, or what mortals call 'TMI'. Regardless, you are getting close to Sephiroth's main proxy body_.

Luna nodded. By this point, she was near Cosmo Canyon, just past the settlement, and in the various canyons near it. And she saw, striding imperiously down one of them, Sephiroth, bold as brass and as large as life. As she approached, though, he halted, and then looked up at her.

Luna actually found herself afraid. True, Luna Lovegood didn't feel fear like most people did. She didn't have the same sense of danger others did. But Sephiroth was universally dangerous.

Still, the fact that he was staring at her with a confused expression helped. Well, mildly confused, but as his expression usually consisted of stoic lack of expression or a cultured smirk, it was like a shout. Then again, Luna Lovegood did have that effect on people.

She gently landed in front of him, and waved. "Hi, I'm Luna Lovegood," she said as her wings folded away. "Mummy couldn't come, but she said I could give you a spanking on her behalf."

Sephiroth was staring at her, before he pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "You wouldn't happen to be acquainted with a certain Tsviet called Vert the Emerald?"

"We went to school together, back when he was called Harry Potter. Why?"

"I'm wondering whether he caught his flux of the mouth from you, or vice versa," he said, drawing his sword.

"Hmm…well, he may have learned it from me a little. Life's boring without snarkery. Wit without measure is mankind's greatest treasure."

Sephiroth scoffed as he readied his sword. "We will have to agree to disagree on that. You're like me…only insane."

Luna Lovegood rolled her eyes. "Sanity's overrated. Oh, and by the way, Hello Pot. My name is Kettle. You're black."

Sephiroth decided to attack then. A shame that Luna knew Apparition. A loud crack, like a gunshot, echoed around the canyon, and Luna was behind Sephiroth. "That's not a very original way to end an argument, you know, with a sword. I mean, look what happened when Henry II said the wrong thing at the wrong time. Thomas Becket got a sword up the jacksie, and Henry got remorseful. By the way, did you know that Cloud's a good kisser? I'm sure that somewhere in the multiverse, there's some yaoi featuring you two."

Sephiroth had whirled to face her, and was staring at her in utter astonishment. "There's some **_what_** featuring me and Cloud?!"

"Okay, okay…well, when a man and a man love each other very much…"

Sephiroth facepalmed when he got the implication. "Very well, I get the picture. What does it have to do with anything?"

"The yaoi? Just riling you up."

"You're _succeeding_. That's one thing you definitely share with Vert."

"Thank you. But actually, my point was that I kissed Cloud before I headed off here, and for a good reason. I removed the Jenova cells from his body. Tifa nearly removed my head, but I managed to explain what I did. So your little cuckoo's out of the nest."

Sephiroth scowled. "This changes nothing. Even if Cloud is out of my control, I am more than a match for all of you. I was the elite of SOLDIER. Even Genesis Rhapsodos was nothing compared to me. I am a god, the rightful heir to this planet."

"Really? Did Minerva write you into her will or something? _And I bequeath to Sephiroth this Planet_. You know, that'd be messier and more hotly contested than _Jarndyce v Jarndyce(_ _1)_." Luna then Apparated behind Sephiroth again as he lunged. "Temper," she said, waggling a chiding finger. "You've too many Wrackspurts, Sephiroth."

"And you've too much prattle," Sephiroth retorted coldly. "You speak too much, and you act too little. The gulf between my power and yours is too much, and you know it. Talking is all you can do."

That was true. Luna could tell that much. But she wasn't here to fight him. Not really. She was probing the Jenova cells that made up his body. Seeing if she could remove Sephiroth's influence from them. She couldn't. But she wasn't a Ravenclaw for nothing.

Jenova cells absorbed memory and thought. They absorbed memes in the same way normal cells absorbed genes from viruses. Sephiroth could be subtle when he wanted to. But Luna was better at that. People would consider the thought of a subtle Luna Lovegood to be laughable, but then again, nobody knew who she really was. Sometimes, not even Luna herself.

Anyway, she could put a memetic virus, a Trojan of sorts, into his Jenova cells. The problem was with Jenvoa cells was that the mind inhabiting them was immortal as long as the cells existed, unless they were purged by a stronger will inhabiting the cells. Luna knew that, at the moment, Sephiroth's will to exist exceeded both her own, and that of Jenova. But there were ways to weaken that will.

She sent the viruses to him via the hive mind of Jenova, as subtly as she could, but she needed a distraction. Out loud, she said, "Talking is what I do best. Well, it's fourth best, below thinking, eating puddings, and magic. Ixion, I CHOOSE YOU!"

From the Materia on her bangle, Nicholas Flamel, in his true form as the summon Ixion, a magnificent unicorn that crackled with electricity, emerged. A voice echoed in their minds. " _I am NOT a Pokémon. Please stop that._ "

Luna pouted. "But it's no fun otherwise. I COULD call you Twilight Sparkle."

" _Oh dear Minerva no_ ," Ixion muttered. " _Anyway, you shouldn't use your seer abilities to watch TV shows that aren't even on yet(_ _2)_ _._ "

"That's boring, Ixion. Anyway, I thought Sephiroth here could do with some shock therapy."

Sephiroth lunged at the unicorn, only to be smashed to the ground by a massive bolt of electricity emanating from Ixion's horn. "How did you like Thor's Hammer, Sephiroth?" Luna asked.

Sephiroth, seemingly unaffected, got to his feet, dusting off his coat. "It hurt. A little. In the same way that the bite of a mosquito would. Irritating…but easily dealt with."

"There's a nice cream I can suggest," Luna said, Ixion retreating back to the Materia for the time being. "It's a haemorrhoid cream because, let's face it, you're an arsehole." That last was the trigger word for the Portkey she had on her, a ring, which sent her to Gongaga, where she hoped to begin a search for the Sephiroth Copies elsewhere.

* * *

Had Luna lingered for a moment, she would have seen a most extraordinary sight. Sephiroth, normally calm and collected, stood there for a few seconds, trembling, his mouth twisted in a snarl of anger, before he shouted a single word. This was extraordinary and almost entirely without precedent, as Sephiroth almost never yelled or screamed in his entire adult life. And yet, in that lonely path near Cosmo Canyon, he shouted so loud, parts of the mountain nearby actually crumbled in a miniature avalanche.

"BITCH!" he screamed, shaking the nearby area with his fury, until he managed to regain his composure. Calming himself down, he decided to reassess his priorities. As much as he wanted to make Cloud, AVALANCHE, Vert, and the rebellious Jenova mind suffer, Luna Lovegood had shot to the top of the list now. She would pay for her insolence and insanity. Oh yes, she would pay…

* * *

Vert was pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation. While Cloud, Tifa, and Barrett had been fighting Reno and Rude in the forests just outside Gongaga, he had been watching from the sidelines with Elena, whom he had prevented from leaving. He offered popcorn as the two Turks battled it out against the survivors of AVALANCHE. Elena, sitting with him and Aerith, opted to do so. The other members of their motley crew were also watching from the sidelines, offering commentary, cheers and jeers.

Of course, the spectating and commentary was rudely interrupted when Luna, screaming "GANGWAY!", appeared out of thin air, and smashed into Reno like a bowling ball into pins from momentum.

Breaking the understandably awkward silence that followed, Rude remarked, "Reno, falling head over heels for a woman is one thing, but we are professionals."

"Rude, I'm kinda too concussed to be professional right now," Reno drawled, well, slurred, anyway, Luna straddling him. "Did anyone get the name of the driver that hit me?"

"Luna Lovegood," Luna said.

"Thanks. We need to swap insurance details," Reno slurred. "Still got payments to make on my car loan." He then lost consciousness.

"…So…are we still fighting or something?" Tifa asked in the next awkward silence that followed.

After a moment, Rude admitted, "Probably not. Reno's out of it. And professionals know when discretion is the better part of valour. Elena."

"Yes sir?" Elena asked, shooting to her feet.

"Do not mention the crazy blonde ramming into Reno in the report," Rude said. "While I will notify Tseng, it's best if Rufus, Heidegger or Scarlet don't learn of this. Otherwise, we'll never hear the end of it. Do that, and I won't mention you eating popcorn with our targets."

Vert thought he heard Cait Sith muttering something about potential blackmail material under his breath, though none of the Turks apparently heard it. Vert, meanwhile, said, "You're feeling all right, Rude? Only, you're more verbose than you usually are. Hell, you were embarrassed when we approached you, and you were saying you fancied Tifa."

Rude cleared his throat. "Actually, I admire her ability in martial arts. Who taught you?"

After a moment, Tifa said, "Zangan."

"Ah. A shame I never got a chance to learn under him. Elena, with me. And help me carry Reno," Rude said.

With that, the three Turks left, with Barrett just standing there in shock, wondering why they let the Shinra goons go. After a moment, they decided to head where they were going anyway, to Gongaga…

* * *

As they left the home of Zack Fair's parents, having told them about their son's demise, Aerith looked at Vert. "Why did you tell them?"

"Why not? The letters they got, they were from one of the Turks, I think," Vert said. The two of them had gone to talk to the Fairs on Vert's suggestion, while the others prepared supplies and went for the inn. "The Turks did that for the best of reasons, I think, but it doesn't necessarily make them the right reasons. Better to know the truth than not."

"Even if it hurts?" Aerith asked.

"The truth can be more painful than lies," Vert said. "A long time ago, Dumbledore told me that the truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should always be treated with great caution." He scoffed. "He was just trying to cover his wrinkled old arse. He kept me with the Dursleys. He kept things from me. Aerith…those people…they'd start asking when Zack is coming home. Zack isn't coming home. The better they realise that, the better it is. Zack wouldn't want his parents to live in deluded hope that he's coming home sometime. You know this as well as I do. You used to date him, remember?"

Aerith nodded, mutely. "It's just…I don't want to see them cry."

"Neither do I. But sometimes, you have to make someone cry to make sure they can live. We're Cetra, Aerith. You and I know better than anyone that loss and hurt is as part of life as anything else. It doesn't mean we should take pleasure in it…just to accept it, and do what you can to alleviate it."

"…Is that why they affected you so? Back in the Golden Saucer? Your friends? You'd accepted that they were dead. So when they came back…"

"Not just that," Vert said. "In Deepground, I had all these nightmares, these dreams, of them dying. So vivid, so real…I think that could have been Voldemort, sending me those, both real and false visions, to torment me, until that _thing_ was taken from my scar. I just became resigned to the fact that they were dead, not even seriously considering that they may not be. In Deepground, they take away your hope first, long before they take your humanity, Aerith. I'm lucky to hold onto even a fraction of the latter."

"Only a _fraction?_ " Aerith asked. "Someone with only a _fraction_ would not have helped Shelke keep her humanity, or help Cloud regain his true identity! You wouldn't have told the Turks to watch out for Sephiroth, if only because you thought they were over their heads! Someone like that would not have helped save Jenova, as dangerous as that was! If it is only a fraction, then it's a pretty big fraction, Vert! You may be cold at times, and aloof, and morbid, but you are far from inhuman, Vert. I know this. Whenever you don't hide your face or eyes, you look so human. Don't hide them, Vert. Don't hide your humanity."

"The light hurts my eyes," Vert said.

Aerith, with a sudden impish impulse, brought her hands to his head, shading his eyes with one hand, while taking the dark glasses off gently with the other. Like glowing emeralds, his eyes were, filled with sadness and the pain of loss. But they were beautiful for it.

 _Does he see my eyes as beautiful?_ Aerith wondered.

"…Your eyes look better than mine," Vert said, as if sensing her thoughts. "Prettier."

"Flatterer," Aerith said. "Vert… _Harry_ …don't hide who you are. Don't hide behind names and clothes and glasses. Your friends deserve better than that, either from your home…or here."

After a moment, Vert took the glove off his hand. His left hand. He looked at the back of it. Aerith realised she didn't see his hand bare, or at least hadn't paid it much mind. He seemed to be reading something quietly off the back of it. After a moment, he let his hand fall again, but not before Aerith saw it, the scarring on the back that seemed to be letters, written in cursive script. Five words, repeated over and over again: _I MUST NOT TELL LIES_.

Vert laughed softly to himself as he put the glove back on, and then took the dark glasses gently from Aerith. "Probably the only thing that bitch was good for: a reminder for me," he muttered quietly to himself as he hid his eyes again. "But…I don't know what's lie, and what's truth anymore."

"I'll help you find it," Aerith said, with a quiet but unshakeable resolve. "I promise."

With that, the two headed to the inn, ready to turn in for the night, ready to embark on the next stage of their journey…

 **CHAPTER 11 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **People might be disappointed about what happened between Luna and Sephiroth, but at the moment, the gulf between their powers and abilities is still too big. Luna is not instantly a goddess, as much as I'd like her to be. Instead, she has a plan. Not only that, but she can confuse Sephiroth into anger. Let's face it, if there's anyone who can make Sephiroth actually fly into a rage rather than being coldly angry, it's Luna Lovegood being confusing.**

 **That bit about Aerith and Vert/Harry discussing Harry's past and nature just came from nowhere. But I think it'll help with Harry finally coming to terms with himself. He is, in his way, hiding behind the Vert the Emerald persona. This is the real beginning of him starting to accept being Harry again.**

 **1\. I wonder how many of you have actually read** ** _Bleak House_** **. If you have, put your hand up in a review. And yes, I have. It's my personal favourite of Charles Dickens' books.** ** _Jarndyce v Jarndyce_** **is the infamously long-running legal battle in that book over a number of wills of varying precedence and validity. Sadly, by the time it is actually resolved, well, the entire estate has been eaten up in costs. It'd be funnier, but it causes the ruin of at least one prominent character in the novel. Incidentally, Harold Skimpole, a character in that novel, is one of the fictional characters I'd love nothing more than to throttle with my bare hands. Umbridge is another.**

 **2\. Harry fell through the Veil in 1996. This story is set about 2001/2002 (Earth time). This is long before** ** _My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic_** **came out (yes, I know that there were previous iterations of the series, but can you see Luna watching any version other than the** ** _Friendship is Magic_** **version? The correct answer is NO). The joke about using psychic powers to watch TV shows well in advance was taken from Page 110 of** ** _The Last Days of FOXHOUND_** **. In it, Liquid Snake and Decoy Octopus steal some hallucinogens Vulcan Raven uses to see the future, not knowing he dilutes them heavily first. Octopus wants lotto numbers, and Liquid wants to see TV episodes from the next year. Unfortunately, Octopus sees only novelty party balloons of Liquid's head, and Liquid sees a giant Cro-Magnon carrot that promptly tries to eat him. "TASTY HUUUU-MAN!"**


	13. Chapter 12: Cosmo Canyon

**CHAPTER 12:**

 **COSMO CANYON**

"Nervous?" Vert asked Nanaki as they approached the entrance to Cosmo Canyon.

"Not that much," Nanaki said. "More impatient to see Grandpa again."

"I'm curious to meet Bugenhagen myself," Vert said quietly.

"Who is Bugenhagen?" Jenova asked. "I only know something of the name from the memories I absorbed from Hojo. The man thought Bugenhagen to be a senile old fool. His words rather than mine."

"Bugenhagen was a former researcher for Shinra," Shelke said. "He left decades ago, though, shortly after the first implementation of Mako Reactors. He resigned out of protest. He had been known to spend much of his time in Cosmo Canyon even before he resigned from Shinra. He was an expert on Mako Energy and the Lifestream. He also had much literature on the Cetra, and was known to be the mentor of Professor Gast Faremis."

"My father," Aerith murmured to herself.

Vert looked up at the buildings built into the side of the mountain. Red stone, the colour of blood, and yet, it seemed warm and welcoming. They intended to stop here for the time being, rest and recuperate before heading to Nibelheim. Neville and Hermione were going to stay here too.

"So, what is this place, exactly?" Cloud asked.

"It's where they study Planet Life, that is, the life cycle of worlds," Hermione said. "It's also almost like a…well, I wouldn't say hippy commune, because that sounds derogatory. So does spiritual, a lot of serious scientific work gets done here."

"I know. I always wanted to come here," Barrett said.

They came to the archway of Cosmo Canyon, and the guard present smiled. "Hey, Nanaki! Welcome back! I'm glad you're safe, and I'm sure Bugenhagen is too."

Nanaki smiled. "Thanks. These people helped me escape from Shinra and get back here. Could you accommodate them?"

"Sure. We're normally at full capacity at the moment, but if you helped out Nanaki…"

"Thank you," Aerith said with a smile, and the group walked through. "So, this is your home, Nanaki?"

"Indeed. My people were the protectors of this place, and their residents, those who appreciate this beautiful canyon and the Planet. My mother fought and died valiantly to save this canyon from the Gi, while my father…" Nanaki's face twisted in contempt. "I have nothing good to say about that coward. I am amongst the last of my people. Perhaps I am, as I don't know if Deneh(1) is still around. You and I share the same burden, Aerith, along with Vert, Sirius, Hermione, and Neville. I am amongst the last of my people, and you five are amongst the last known Cetra." The leonine creature sighed, before he said, "If you wish, some of you may come to see my grandfather. I know he will want to meet Aerith and Vert."

* * *

Yuffie decided to opt out, and Sirius volunteered to keep an eye on the teenaged ninja. The rather large party made their way through Cosmo Canyon, through the tunnels and warrens carved out of the rock into homes for the residents, until they had made their way to the observatory perched at the top of the settlement.

They were led through into the observatory, where they were greeted by an ancient man, perched on a floating green orb. "Ho ho hooo…greetings. I am Bugehagen. Quite the party, I see, and a motley one too. I know Miss Granger and Mr Longbottom, and of course Nanaki, but a mixed bag of Shinra personnel and others."

Cloud stepped forward. "I have severed ties with Shinra. So too have Vert and Shelke. We're not sure about Cait Sith, though."

"And what of the strange woman? Why, if I didn't know any better, I'd swear that was Jenova," Bugenhagen said.

"I am Jenova," Jenova said. "You must be the one Hojo called a senile old fool. Well, one out of three isn't bad, I suppose."

Bugenhagen blinked behind his glasses. "You are Jenova? But why are you travelling with these?"

"A long story. Short version? Sephiroth owes me a debt. I find it mutually convenient to travel with them."

Bugenhagen stared at her, before asking, perhaps unwisely, "How do you know Hojo's opinion of me?"

"I ate him." Jenova grinned predatorily at Bugenhagen's discomfort, before Tifa, who was standing behind her, gave her a light slap around the back of the head. Jenova blinked, before turning to the buxom girl, staring at her incredulously. "Did you just _dope-slap_ me?"

"Yes. You shouldn't go out of your way to scare people who are being nice to us," Tifa said.

"How did you know she was Jenova?" Vert asked as Jenova glared at Tifa.

"Professor Gast showed me a file with her image when he stayed here briefly," Bugenhagen said.

"Ah, this is the one we set out to find, Bugenhagen," Hermione said, indicating Vert. "He calls himself Vert the Emerald, thanks to what Shinra did to him, but it's Harry."

"Ah. Well, it's good to meet you, Harry. Or do you prefer Vert?"

"…I've called myself Vert for too long," Vert admitted.

"And this is Aerith Gainsborough. Like Neville and I, along with Vert, she's a Cetra, the last Cetra to be born here," Hermione continued, indicating Aerith.

"Ah, yes. I remember Gast sending a message to me before Shinra murdered him that he had a daughter with Ifalna called Aerith," Bugenhagen said, peering at Aerith. "You look a lot like your mother."

Introductions were soon made of the other members, and afterwards, Bugenhagen smiled. "Anyway, it seems I have you to thank for returning Nanaki to me. Shinra abducted Nanaki some time ago, and I was worried. Nanaki is still a child, at least by the standards of his people."

"Grandpa, I'm 48!" Nanaki complained.

Bugenhagen laughed. "And by your people's reckoning, that would have you in your mid-teens. You could have been fooled into thinking he was an adult, as he is quiet and profound most of the time."

"Grandfather, I want to be an adult. I want to be able to protect you and the village. I failed earlier. The best I could do was stop Deneh from being captured with me."

"And you won her respect for it. She still roams the world, looking for you, and sends word on a regular basis, Nanaki. Even so, do not be so eager to stand alone on your own two feet," Bugenhagen said. "Looking up to the stars makes you lose perspective if you do it too long. When the Planet dies, you'll understand how truly little, if at all, that you know."

"Hopefully that's far off," Aerith remarked.

"No. It may be sooner than you think, thanks to Shinra and their Mako Reactors. It may be tomorrow, or a century hence, or a millennium…but it's still coming soon," Bugenhagen said, before he activated a control on the device he was floating on.

The sound that filled the observatory sounded vaguely rhythmic, like breathing, or waves crashing against a shoreline. Vert's eyes widened beneath his tinted glasses. "Cosmic Mako background," he breathed.

"The sounds of stars and worlds in the heavens, being born, living and dying," Bugenhagen said. With another activated control, a shrill scream-like noise, discordant, began to weave itself into the noise.

"The cries of the Planet," Vert muttered as Bugenhagen muted it. "But Minerva didn't say that the Planet was in this much danger, not from the Mako Reactors. She did say it was bad, but…"

"Minerva?"

"The consciousness of the Planet," Luna explained. "Jenova used to be like Minerva, before her Planet died, and she was forced to take what little Lifestream remained to head into the stars."

"Ho ho hooo…the Omega Weapon Hypothesis. Ah, yes, I know of that. Lucrezia Crescent…what a brilliant young woman, and a misguided one. She passed through here after fleeing Nibelheim, and bequeathed to me some of her writings, although some were translations of Cetra writings she had uncovered." Bugenhagen cleared his throat. " _Soul wrought of terra corrupt, quelling impurity, purging the stream to beckon forth an ultimate fate. Behold mighty Chaos, Omega's squire to the lofty heavens_."

"We know of this," Shelke said. "I found copies of her work while using my SND ability."

"And it is how they claim I ended up…the way I did," Jenova said.

"Ho ho hooo…a foreign Lifestream…thought by the Cetra to be little more than a virus, a Calamity from the Skies…" Bugenhagen looked thoughtful. "How many of you are familiar with the workings of the Lifestream? How it affects life itself?"

Vert, Shelke, Aerith, Luna, and Jenova all put their hands up. Hermione and Neville didn't need to. Cloud said, "I think they explained something about it while we were on our way here. The soul, consciousness and memories of living beings returns to the Lifestream, right? And the Lifestream, what we call Mako Energy, flows in a sort of series of underground channels."

"But should that energy be taken away…keep in mind that it is the Lifestream that allows Planets to be Planets. Without them, they become barren balls of rock, at best," Bugenhagen said. "At worst, the very world begins to come apart. The Planet becomes destroyed. Mako Reactors diminish Mako Energy,"

"Shinra is not the main problem," Shelke said. "Sephiroth is. According to Jenova, he intends to find a way to gather as much Lifestream to himself as possible by causing a massive wound to the Planet."

Bugenhagen's eyes widened beneath his glasses. "What folly do you speak of?" he said in a quiet tone of sheer disbelief.

"Sephiroth wishes to become a god," Aerith said. "We're trying to stop that, and stop Shinra too. But Sephiroth is the priority, because it will mean the end of us all."

* * *

After a few minutes of explaining what they knew of Sephiroth's plan, Bugenhagen looked shaken. "Madness…utter insanity…and yet…for a normal person, even a Cetra, it shouldn't be possible. Cetra can, once awoken, manipulate the Lifestream to a degree."

"I know. It's how I wiped out Deepground. I took their lifeforce, their Mako…and what I didn't use on Shelke to allow her to grow properly again, I returned to the Planet. Of course, I was so close to a Mako Reactor, it may just have been sucked up, but…" Vert looked uncomfortable.

"Deepground?"

"An elite, fanatical section of SOLDIER," Shelke clarified. "They won't be missed…unless you're Heidegger or Scarlet. Vert and I are the only survivors, and the only surviving Tsviets, their elite. Hundreds were killed."

"A Cetra in an elite section of SOLDIER. And your powers must be frightening indeed if they killed so many people," Bugenhagen said, shakily.

"I haven't really used those particular powers since then," Vert admitted. "They…frighten me."

"As they would frighten any sane man. They can be used for great good or evil. But a Jenova entity, from what little works Professor Gast and Doctor Crescent gave me, could be capable of much more. I heard rumours through various sources of the rebellion of Genesis Rhapsodos."

"Sephiroth fell into a Mako Reactor at Nibelheim," Cloud said. He had regained most of his memories by this time. "Something of him must've survived."

"We're hardy beings," Jenova said. "Remember the Reunion. But even I can tell that Sephiroth's plan is, while possible, has a significant chance of failing, and all that'd be left is a dying world."

"You've given that much thought," Bugenhagen said.

"Of course. My instincts are tempered by the true knowledge of what I am…but they're still there. I merely have context. Why I wish to absorb and supplant the Lifestream of this world."

"Yes, the guiding consciousness of another world, trying to colonise our own. I find it fascinating, and frightening. Still, I daresay you all are trying to find ways to stop Sephiroth."

Cloud nodded. "It's still a work in progress, as you can imagine."

"Ho ho hoooo…well, if you wish, you may read the papers and books in my own private library, and the various Elders of Cosmo Canyon may be of help too. I don't know what they can do to help, but saving the Planet is a worthwhile cause. It's how you do it that's problematic."

Vert couldn't fail to notice that Bugenhagen's gaze had settled on Barrett when he said that last part. Tifa, in order to forestall a possible explosion, said diplomatically, "Thanks for that. We appreciate it."

With that, the group scattered, looking to consult with the various libraries of Cosmo Canyon, and the recollection of the Elders there. Soon, aside from Nanaki and Bugenhagen himself, the only ones left in Bugenhagen's quarters were Vert, Shelke, Aerith, Neville, and Hermione. However, Bugenhagen gestured Vert over. Vert frowned, before walking over to the ancient scientist, who said, "Why do you wear those glasses all the time? Was what Shinra did to you so detrimental to your eyes?"

"Yes. It's a permanent side-effect of their experiments. Sensitivity to light. But Aerith…she thinks I'm trying to hide myself as well."

"Ah, but what of yourself are you trying to hide? You seem like an intelligent young man, and despite your reservation, a compassionate one as well. You are frightened of your powers, and of what you became thanks to Shinra. You hide it behind a mask of stone, but the mask has cracks. Even I, for all the wisdom others claim me to have, do not have all the answers when it pertains to the soul and mind. I can help you, but it is up to you whether to allow the mask to become your face…or to discard it. Or anything inbetween. Hermione and Neville spoke to me of your life, when you were Harry Potter. Some would break. Others get forged stronger than before. But one thing that hasn't changed is your friends. They are here now, and you also have new friends and allies. Connections do not weaken you, but strengthen you."

"I know, but…for a long time, I thought Hermione and Neville were dead. I'm still trying to get used to them being alive," Vert said. "When I saw Hermione alive at the Golden Saucer, I thought I was going mad. More than I already was. Maybe I needed that. Maybe I needed to be rebroken before I could heal properly."

"Vert…Harry…we're here for you," Hermione said.

Neville nodded. "We all are. We'll help you stop Sephiroth, okay?"

Vert gave a tired smile of acknowledgement. At least he had friends, old and new, to count on to do this. And Bugenhagen was right: the mask he wore was cracking. He had to wonder, did he want it to crack?

 **CHAPTER 12 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **And here you have it. I intend to have more Vert/Aerith in the next chapter, there really hasn't been enough yet. But we needed to get the discussion with Bugenhagen and some of Nanaki's past out of the way. Incidentally, Vert won't be accompanying Nanaki and Bugenhagen into the Gi Cave.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Nexusrider161** **: If you wish, just credit me.**

 **Reishin Amara** **: It probably won't be like that, but Sephiroth WILL be having trouble maintaining his stoic façade at that time…**

 **1\. Deneh was seen in** ** _Before Crisis_** **. Presumably, she's the mother of the cubs seen in the epilogue of the game.**


	14. Chapter 13: Breaking the Mask

**CHAPTER 13:**

 **BREAKING THE MASK**

Vert was looking through the large library of Bugenhagen, when Cait Sith waltzed up, without his oversized Moogle mount for once. "I'm surprised you dinnae go wi' Aerith," Cait Sith said. "She's currently talking wi' the elders of Cosmo Canyon."

"I just needed to be alone for the moment. Aerith…she knows less about our heritage than I do. And even with me teaching her, she probably needs someone else. I'm not a good teacher. Anyway, why did you come here, Reeve?"

Cait Sith looked up at him, before the deep, resonant voice of Reeve Tuesti came from his mouth. "Curiosity. I know what it killed…but…well, most of AVALANCHE don't want me near them. I can understand why, given my affiliation with Shinra. Jenova frightens the hell out of me, as does Shelke. Luna is just strange, and your other friends from your world…" Cait Sith shrugged. "I was just curious about you being in Deepground. I only learned about it when you and Shelke escaped, along with Aerith and the others. What the hell did Hojo put you through?"

"Hojo only had some to do with my misery. Blame Heidegger, and Scarlet. How did Rufus Shinra take learning about Deepground?"

"He was shocked. Not at the experiments, but that his father would keep such a secret from him. Then again, his father never fully trusted him." Cait Sith leapt up onto Vert's shoulder, the cat robot remarkably light, before sitting on said shoulder. "I joined Shinra…well, what became Shinra, because I wanted to change the world for the better. And yet, I'm hearing that my reactors are destroying the Planet, that the people I work for, not content with having their own army, have experimented on people to create super-soldiers, mostly without their consent, oh, and we used to have a sentient alien disease in the building that we had a mad scientist vivisecting."

"If it makes you feel any better, Hojo's dead, remember? Jenova ate him."

"Sadly, it makes me feel a little better. I told Rufus about that, and he's frankly relieved, on one level at least. He's cursing the loss of Hojo's knowledge, but the truth is, the man was a liability. I don't want to be so glad of a man's death ever again," Reeve mused from Cait Sith's mouth. "And the thought of Deepground existing frightened me. We managed to get from Heidegger and Scarlet, with a lot of reluctance, anyway, information about Deepground. And you killed them."

"I know. I'm a monster."

"Perhaps…but you went out of your way to save Shelke. You exposed me as a spy, and yet…you see me as part of this motley group."

"Not exactly. I see you as our liaison with Shinra. One thing I am sure Rufus can agree on is that Sephiroth is a threat to the Planet and to Shinra, more so than AVALANCHE," Vert said. "If he helps us deal with Sephiroth, then we have a better chance at winning."

"Heidegger and Scarlet don't see it the same way," Reeve said. "They're ordering the Turks to try and take you out as well as stop Sephiroth. Tseng at least has a good head on his shoulders, and Rufus has basically ordered them to prioritise stopping Sephiroth. And the Turks are more loyal to Rufus than to Heidegger, who nominally runs them."

"Good. Nice to see that Rufus has his priorities straight," Vert said.

After a moment, Reeve said, "Vert…I want you to tell me this. The Shinra suits are obsessed with finding the Promised Land, and they believe you and Aerith, along with any other Cetra, key to finding it. Do you know where it is?"

Vert snorted. "Of course I do. I've spoken to the Planet itself, its guiding consciousness, its goddess, if you will: Minerva. It sounds crazy, but I assure you, it's true. Aerith has spoken to her, and Luna told me that she's spoken to her too. I've also spoken to the few entities who have returned to the Planet, but have retained their individuality. The truth is, the Promised Land of the Cetra is the Lifestream itself. It's not a physical place, just the endless oceans and rivers of Mako Energy. The Cetra were content to return to that, for that was their place once they had helped the Planet."

"I see. I don't think Rufus would believe that, or any of the others, but I can see that. And your abilities?"

"I don't use them much. Besides being taxing…well, I'm afraid of doing the wrong thing. Using my abilities to give Yuffie Materia was the first time I really truly used my most powerful abilities so overtly since wiping out Deepground. If I wanted to, I could reduce the entire population of Midgar into Mako Energy, and channel it back into the Planet. Only Chaos, the herald of Omega Weapon, is said to have more powerful abilities in that regard. That, and Omega itself. What your Mako Reactors do is similar, but in a way that consumes the Mako Energy to turn it into electricity, and it doesn't change back readily into a form the Planet can re-use. You can see the results almost everywhere there is a reactor: the slums beneath Midgar, Kalm, Junon, Corel…I'm sure the reactor at Nibelheim will be similar."

After a moment, Reeve said, "It's hard to hear, you know. That my life's greatest achievement is in fact the downfall of the Planet. Rufus won't listen, and neither will the other suits. But do you think AVALANCHE's actions in Midgar did anything to help?"

"Depends on what you mean. At least the people I killed in Deepground were soldiers, indoctrinated killers, but there were some people caught up in AVALANCHE's bombings who were doubtless innocent. And this was the second, more sane iteration of AVALANCHE, as you and I know. The first version was even worse. In a direct way, short term, it did take the pressure off the Planet. I should know, I was in the Lifestream at the time. But all it did was bring Shinra down on them hard."

"I protested the plan to drop the Sector 7 Plate," Reeve said. "Fat lot of good it did me. Heidegger merely laughed his head off, and President Shinra suggested I take a day of sick leave for my stress. He made it seem like stressing over the fates of hundreds if not thousands of people was an illness. The main reason why I'm even preferring you guys over Shinra is that, for all the deaths this current AVALANCHE caused, it was nothing compared to the death toll Shinra caused when the Sector 7 Plate fell. All to stop AVALANCHE, while framing them. It makes me sick."

"At least you do feel sick. That only proves that you're still sane. Whereas I…" Vert chuckled bitterly. "I'm barely sane anymore. You saw what happened at the Golden Saucer when Hermione made herself known to me. I did that in front of Aerith, probably scared the living daylights out of her. I'm beginning to wonder if I really know who I am."

"You're Harry Potter. And Vert the Emerald."

The soft, gentle voice caused Vert to start, as he turned to find Aerith there. "Remember?" she asked. "When we went to Kalm, and you told Cloud the truth about his memories? You're like he was. Caught between two identities…but you don't have to be. Cloud was merely confused, thanks to the Jenova cells and Zack's well-meaning talks with him. But you…you tried to dissociate yourself from Harry Potter within Deepground because you felt you needed to be stronger." She approached him, and gently slipped off his glove, revealing the familiar scarred hand, showing its message of _I MUST NOT TELL LIES_. "You told me this was a reminder from someone you hated."

"Unintentionally. Dolores Umbridge was like Scarlet, only ugly," Vert said. "Cruel and cold and callous. I'm glad Hermione killed her. But in a way, I'm glad for these scars too. It just took you talking to me to remind myself. But the thing is…if I try to become Harry Potter again…will that be the lie? Or will that be staying as Vert?"

"Vert…I think you need to accept that you're both," Aerith said, gently removing his glasses. Vert squinted against the light. He was unused to seeing light without his glasses. "I'm happy to call you Harry Potter or Vert, but it's only the name you need to choose, not who or what you are. You are who you have been, not unchanged, but…you don't need the mask. You gave me my Cetra Heritage back, Vert. I want to help you give you your past back."

"You weren't there. How could you?"

"Maybe not…but I can promise to be there for you. I would like to think that I am one of your friends on this world, and you now have friends from your old world." After a moment, she placed a hand on his cheek gently. "I think you've missed part of the Cetra Heritage."

Vert scowled at her impudence, even if she wasn't trying to be malicious. "And what part is that?"

"You have been trying to make yourself an island, alone, even when you help others. And yet…you're part of the Planet, of the Lifestream, of a bigger whole. You're not an island, Vert, but part of an ocean. I knew that, ever since I was first taught by my mother, and ever since the Lifestream spoke to me, even if only quietly. We are born, we live, we die and return to the Lifestream. We are part of something greater."

"I know this."

"Maybe intellectually…but I don't think you truly understand it. You isolate yourself, Vert. When you saw Hermione, your first instinct was to attack her, one of your oldest friends. You may want to help others, but you've tried to keep yourself apart in a way, even when you're being friendly. You're afraid of losing people again, aren't you?"

And there it was. Aerith had seen what even he was trying to deny. Yes, he was afraid of losing people again. And as much as he helped, as much as he reached out, he reached out from behind a wall. He helped AVALANCHE with a somewhat nihilistic, detached air. Oh, the good kind of nihilistic, the one that thought that life doesn't have meaning, save for what one imposed on it…but he was still nihilistic.

He was keeping himself alone because he didn't want to feel that pain again. It was that pain, more so than the physical pain he went through in Deepground, that fuelled his transformation into Vert the Emerald. The pain that had Harry Potter dying screaming wasn't anything so mundane as pain of the body, but of the heart and soul. Of the realisation that he had failed his friends, that they would die because he wasn't there.

And some did die. But others lived. Voldemort had been defeated without him, even if at a terrible cost. And what was more, _they came for him_. They actually cared about him enough to come to this world and find what was left of Harry Potter, not knowing that the mangled remains were sewn up in a funerary shroud named Vert the Emerald.

 _You're not an island, Vert, but part of an ocean_ , Aerith had said. He closed his eyes, trying to fight the tears. He was startled when Aerith wiped them away.

"I want to meet the real you, Vert. Do you understand? I see…glimpses of him. Behind your mask. Please…just let me see you. The real you. Not this Boy Who Lived rubbish that I heard, or the Tsviet Shinra twisted you into becoming…just you."

For the first time in a long time, Vert was scared. Oh, he was frightened in a way when Hermione approached him at the Golden Saucer, but that was more of a panic, an almost animal reaction fuelled by his fractured psyche. But this was something more profound, a deeper, darker fear. Of what lay within him.

Something was going to break.

Something did.

A dam that had been keeping things back broke. More tears trickled from his eyes. It was like his first immersion in Mako, nearly drowning twice, first in the liquid itself, and then in the information it contained. While that wasn't the thing that killed Harry Potter, it was certainly the first true blow. It was what weakened him for the more mortal attacks on his mind and soul.

And now, once more, a flood was washing across his mind.

He nearly missed Aerith asking quietly, "Vert?"

With a great shuddering breath, he said something he hadn't wanted to say for a very long time, his voice husky with emotion. The mask had been shattered, torn away like the scab from a wound. But with five words, he gave Aerith hope that maybe there was something left.

"You can call me Harry."

 **CHAPTER 13 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **Okay, so this was a quiet bit of interaction, where Vert and Cait Sith discuss morality, and Aerith finally gets through to what is left of Harry Potter…and perhaps there is more left than he thought. The next chapter will concentrate on Aerith and Harry having a quiet moment together while Bugenhagen shows Nanaki the truth about his father.**

 **Review-answering time!** **Reishin Amara** **: Hmm…maybe I will do something like that…**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


	15. Chapter 14: A Spark of Intimacy

**CHAPTER 14:**

 **A SPARK OF INTIMACY**

Later, Harry, Aerith and Shelke had opted to recharge their Mako suits. While they only needed recharging at less frequent intervals, the truth was, it would help if it was topped up. With his powers, Harry brought up a surge of Mako Energy, creating what was effectively a spring of Lifestream, a gently glowing green pond, albeit apart from most of the rest of the Canyon, away from prying eyes.

As the sun set, Harry and Shelke, apparently not caring about modesty, began stripping off their Mako suits. Aerith blushed slightly. It was the first time, she realised, that she had seen him naked. Well, either of them, but she didn't quite swing that way where Shelke was concerned, though she had to admit, the girl had a figure, though that was obvious, given how she wore nothing over the Mako suit. But Harry…well, she found herself trying very hard not to stare.

Aerith, following their lead, stripped. "The Mako spring will act as a bath for both us and the suits," Harry said, his eyes still having that eerie glow. He and Shelke, still holding their Mako suits, gently walked into the spring, and then sunk into it, up to their chests. Aerith, still blushing, followed.

"Aren't you two embarrassed?" she asked, even as she enjoyed the warm sensation of the Mako spring her body was immersed in.

"That was mostly indoctrinated out of us by Deepground," Shelke said, with a bitter tone. She sank mostly beneath the surface, save for her face, with a gentle, contented sigh. "This is the first time I have had a Mako bath voluntarily than out of pure necessity. I am…enjoying it."

"You didn't get to enjoy a lot in Deepground, did you?" Aerith asked.

"The only things we were allowed to enjoy was the thrill of battle and the screams of our enemies," Harry said bitterly. "Most of the Tsviets could only enjoy battle and bloodshed. Nero was one of the few exceptions…aside from Shelke and I. But his only other enjoyment was his little incest thing for his brother, Weiss."

"…They sound bad. You never really spoke about them much," Aerith said.

"That's because there's not much to say about them. Only Nero had any real kind of personality. Well, Argento too, but, well…there's not much to say," Harry said. "Whoever they were before Deepground, whatever they used to have for personalities, that got wiped out by the indoctrination, especially if they were conscripted at an early age. Shelke and I were lucky. We managed to hang onto something. We became like brother and sister. I never had a sibling, back home. All I had was a fat bully of a cousin, whose father was very like President Shinra, and whose mother was like Scarlet, only with less looks and more housewife vibes. They treated me like a servant, Aerith. And they abused me. It's a wonder I came out of that still sane. But Deepground was worse."

Aerith remained silent at that, merely enjoying the sensation of the warm Mako Energy tingling all over her body. That tingling had a rather interesting effect on her skin, she realised, and she blushed even more than she already was.

Shelke, after a moment, said, "Vert…"

"I'm Harry again, Shelke," Harry said softly.

Another brief pause as Shelke digested this. Aerith noted that there was very little change to her expression, but there was enough to see a vague softening. Like a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Perhaps there was even the faintest hint of a smile. Shelke then said, "Harry…do you think we can stop Sephiroth? Are we strong enough?"

"I don't know," Harry confessed. "Sephiroth's power is ludicrous, and remember, what we're chasing is a simulacrum made of Jenova cells, a puppet. His true body lies elsewhere."

"But where?" Aerith asked.

"In the end, Sephiroth is basically Jenova, he'd go where the Mako Energy is. There has to be a place where there's a lot of Mako Energy that his true body has set himself up in," Harry said. "Maybe Minerva knows. We'll have to try and commune with her later."

Shelke, after a moment, nodded, and clambered out of the pool, taking her Mako suit with her. "Here. I'll take them and check for anything that needs repairing," she said, holding out a hand. After a moment, Harry held out his Mako suit, and so too did Aerith. She then walked off behind some boulders.

Aerith frowned. "Why did she…why did she do that?"

Harry sighed quietly. "Shelke thinks I need some alone time with you. Even if it's just to talk. Shelke's good like that. She's no Cetra, but she knows me better than I know myself at times."

"Is she hoping that…with the two of us bathing together…?" Aerith asked, the implication clear in her tone, she hoped.

Harry shook his head. "Not exactly. You're on the right track, but she isn't hoping sex will happen. We don't think like that. Hell, we haven't even had proper dates, Aerith."

"And yet, we're bathing together, naked, in a pool of Mako Energy," Aerith pointed out with a teasing smile. "It's a pretty intimate activity."

"True. But the Cetra used to do this, back when there were more Mako Energy fountains and pools around the world…before Jenova's arrival. Sometimes, the Cetra would even have sex in these pools, to increase chance of fertility, and strengthening their children. What Shinra did to create members of SOLDIER, infusing people with Jenova cells aside, was a not dissimilar process. There're fewer Mako fountains and pools now, simply because there's a lot of Mako Energy going to the Northern Crater, where Jenova landed. It's like being in a hot spring." Harry looked at her, his lips pursed with what Aerith realised was embarrassment. Subtle, yes, but there. "And yes, this is an intimate activity, but it needn't go any further physically, not unless you want it to. But in truth…I think Shelke just wanted us to get to know each other in a more psychological way than a carnal one."

"Well, that's good. I mean…I like you, and I owe you for helping me…but, well…"

"I understand. And you don't owe me anything. Just friendship will do. You seem to make friends pretty easily. Cloud, Barrett, Tifa, Nanaki…hell, even my friends from Earth like you already. And Yuffie likes your company."

"Not Jenova."

"The Cetra of yore sealed her away, she's still got a grudge," Harry said. "Give her time. You've noticed it, haven't you? How much more… _human_ she's becoming, now that Luna showed her the truth. She's still a scary, sadistic bitch…but I feel less inclined to watch my back around her. Plus, she seems better inclined towards me than you. Maybe broken calls to broken."

"The fact that you saved her has nothing to do with that?" Aerith asked wryly.

Harry snorted. "Unlike Ginny, Jenova is not a fangirl with a desire for a knight in shining armour. Besides, she saved my life from her Sephiroth fangirl alter-ego. There's no debt there. She follows us mostly out of mutual convenience. It may become something more, may even be turning out that way as we speak. But she does it mainly for her own selfish reasons."

"And what of you? Why did you join us?"

"Because Minerva wants me to help you save the world, Aerith," Harry said quietly. "After I destroyed Deepground…I needed a purpose."

"And that is why? Because Minerva told you?"

He nodded. "Don't get me wrong, I don't like being ordered around…but Minerva didn't order me. She asked me to. And I decided to agree to her request. I mean, saving the world…it's a pretty big ask. But what if AVALANCHE fails? I'm here to help them…and continue where they left off, should they fail."

"But Hermione once said to you you have a 'saving people thing'," Aerith said with a chuckle. "Truth be told, so do I. I think we all do. Cloud, Tifa, even Barrett. And those friends of yours from that other world…I'm glad I'm not the last of my kind."

"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew more about what they were like back home," Harry said quietly. "The foibles of humanity are magnified in the wizards, not helped by attitudes towards purity of blood." On Aerith's look, he clarified, "Inbreeding."

Aerith grimaced at the thought. "That bad?"

"Worse. Any wizards who came from non-magical lines were discriminated against by the so-called Purebloods. Not all of them, but there were a lot. Voldemort…he used the purity of blood as his rallying cry. Ironically, his father didn't have magic, so he was a hypocrite. But a dangerous one. And a lot of wizards joined him, though they didn't know his parentage. You're lucky that there's no Cetra society here. It could have ended up the same way."

"I doubt it," Aerith said.

"That's because you're an optimist, Aerith. That, and, until I came along, you were the last of our people here," Harry said. "Cetra are people like everyone else. Give people power, and some will seek to misuse it. You seem to think of our people as these shining paragons of virtue…but in truth, they are just people with powers, capable of great good and great evil. Minerva told me more than a few weren't just brainwashed by Jenova when she first came to this world. Many joined her willingly in search of power over others. She didn't elaborate, that seemed to be a sore point for her. Others, including my ancestors, fled this world rather than fight Jenova. Only your ancestors stayed to fight."

There was little Aerith could say to that. He was right, or at least he wasn't wholly wrong. Eventually, she said, "You're so sad." He nodded. "I'm sad too. Even before we met, I knew my people were on the verge of extinction. It makes me sad about human greed and the malice of Shinra or Sephiroth. But to learn this…well, I won't deny that it makes me unhappy. But…not all people will fight. And…they enriched your world, didn't they? Not all Cetra on your world can be bad, or else you wouldn't have your friends coming for you. You wouldn't have come to help us, Harry."

He remained silent. But Aerith could see the silent turmoil in his face. On an impulse, she swam over to his side, and put an arm around his shoulder. She sensed something almost like a flinch from the contact. "I know why you try to distance yourself from me. It's not just trying to distance yourself from Harry Potter. It was trying to distance yourself from Vert the Emerald, the slayer of Deepground. You don't think the stains can be washed away, do you?" He shook his head. "Maybe they can't. But…I have faith in you. You are a good person, Harry."

"Am I?"

"Everyone has darkness within them. And if I didn't have faith in you, I wouldn't even think of doing this."

With that, she grasped his head gently, and, as his glowing eyes opened wide in shock, she pressed her lips to his own. He froze briefly, before he relaxed into the kiss. It was a kiss of slow-burning lust and affection, not quite love, not the frantic, uncontrolled actions of lust on a high boil, but slow and languorous. It was a true acknowledgement of the bond that had been growing between them, not just of being the last survivors of the Cetra, but of something more.

They then broke apart, staring at each other for a while. A goofy smile came across Harry's face, a smile that clearly hadn't been there for a while. Oh, and he was blushing like mad. It was one of the most human expressions she had seen on his face.

It was, admittedly, a somewhat impulsive move. But Aerith was no stranger to those. It was whims like these that had her joining forces with Cloud to help out Tifa…not to mention persuading him to dress up in drag to infiltrate Don Corneo's mansion.

"Let's leave it at that, shall we?" Aerith said, as she climbed out of the Mako pool. "Maybe we'll do more like that later."

Harry, after a moment, nodded mutely. He followed her out of the pool, and she noticed his rather conspicuous arousal. She giggled as she handed him his Mako suit. Hopefully, that would only be the beginning…

* * *

Shelke was glad to see her brother in everything but blood become…more human. Shelke had seen Harry at his worst, and she wasn't sure whether she would ever see him at his best. But she was sure that Aerith could hold the keys to healing him.

True, the Cetra from Harry's former home also held the keys, but they were friends. Aerith, however, had the potential to be even more intimate than a mere friend.

"I appreciate what you did for him."

Shelke did not leap up into the air in fright, no matter how much she wanted to. She didn't whirl around to face the one who snuck up on her either. But she did turn her head to glare at Luna, only to discover a more solemn look than she normally saw on the Jenova hybrid's face. "I did less for him than he did for me," Shelke said.

"You kept his soul alive, Shelke," Luna said quietly. "You were an island of sanity within Deepground that he clung to. You kept each other sane…relatively. Full sanity is highly overrated, I speak from experience, but there's nothing wrong with having your head in the clouds, as long as your feet stay on the ground. Harry gave you back your life, Shelke, but you kept what was left of his true self alive, when it could have withered and died, or worse, mutated into something cruel and evil, just like Deepground. And Shinra. And Sephiroth. I'm grateful to you for doing that, Shelke. We all are."

Shelke didn't know what to say to that. She certainly didn't know how to react when Luna hugged her. But, well, she found it nice. "You did more than you think, Shelke," Luna whispered. "Never forget that…"

 **CHAPTER 14 ANNOTATIONS:**

 **So…I've just done the fanfic equivalent of a hot springs episode, only with mixed bathing. I just thought there would have to come a time when Harry, Aerith and Shelke would have to recharge those Mako suits. Plus, I wanted Harry and Aerith to grow closer. It was tempting to have them start shagging like rabbits (even if I can't write lemons worth diddly), but frankly, that didn't seem right for the progression of their characters. Aerith's a bit whimsical, but I think she would wait until she knew Harry a bit better first.**

 **Plus, Luna and Shelke having a heart-to-heart. I think Luna's pep-talk did Shelke the world of good.**

 **We'll deal with the various adventurers setting off for Nibelheim after Nanaki deals with his daddy issues at the beginning of the next chapter.**

 **No numbered annotations this time.**


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